


Collisions and Consequences

by phinnium



Series: Ribs [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Crying Hinata Shouyou, Crying Kageyama Tobio, Hurt Kageyama Tobio, Hurt/Comfort, Karasuno, Karasuno Family, M/M, Nishinoya Yuu is a good senpai, Sawamura Daichi is a good senpai, Sugawara Koushi is a good senpai, but then i promise it'll be better, it's gonna get a bit worse, kagehina if you squint, this is a little sad in the first chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:35:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24807091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phinnium/pseuds/phinnium
Summary: Hinata gets over-excited during a practice match and collides with Kageyama.(Slight spoilers for issue 387 of the manga)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Takeda Ittetsu/Ukai Keishin
Series: Ribs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965403
Comments: 72
Kudos: 687





	1. Over-excitement

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Haikyuu fic! And I'm also trying to write this to be a little bit longer than my usual fics, and so far I'm succeeding.  
> Again, there are slight spoilers for issue 387 in here. If you don't wanna be spoiled, don't read.  
> I hope you enjoy!

Hinata knew that he could get a little over excited at times. Well, a little probably isn't the right way to describe it.

Each successful block and spike, though they would leave his palm stinging, they would also make his heart pump faster at the sound of the ball slapping against the floor, and send adrenaline rushing through his veins upon seeing shock on the opposing teams faces.

In those moments he felt on top of the world.

He felt like a crow soaring in the sky, higher and higher among the clouds. Until he would start falling, and he once again found his feet on the ground.

He'll admit, it's addictive.

And sometimes, even during practice matches, his over excitement would start by helping to rile up the team, their determination to succeed increasing by seeing how much their short spiker was invested.

But every once in a blue moon, Hinata could end up going a slight bit over board, his movements slowing and becoming more clumsy as he exhausted himself. Then that would turn his excitement and determination into frustration, as he found that he was no longer performing to the level that he wanted to, no matter how much he would will his body to move, and no matter how much he would beg his legs to take him up into the air for one more spike.

Those were usually the matches they would end up losing.

So it's something that he's been working to control. Because though his desire to spike was strong, his desire to actually stay on the court was stronger. And Hinata didn't doubt that despite the power behind his and Kageyama's quick attack, coach Ukai wouldn't hesitate to bench him if he kept up this behaviour.

So it's something he's been working to control.

But even so, although it was much rarer now, he would still sometimes find himself with that same adrenaline pumping through his veins, giving him tunnel vision as his desire to feel the sting on his palms took over.

\---------------------------------

Hinata had been willing time to go faster for the past 24 hours. Ukai had told the team yesterday after practice was over that they were going to do a practice match the next day.

"You haven't had the chance to play against another team in a while. And I know splitting the twelve of you into two groups isn't exactly another team, but unfortunately it'll have to do for now. The next training camp still isn't for another few weeks, so even if we can't have any matches against another team, we can still practice among ourselves," he sighed apologetically, "I know it's not the best of situations, but it's the best we got at the moment."

Hinata was practically vibrating at the prospect of being able to spike against another team again (well not exactly another team, but the idea was still there). Even though it had only been about a week and a half since their last practice match like this, he was still ecstatic for the opportunity to try and actually _win_ something again. With practice matches, though the stakes weren't as high as real matches, they were still stakes. And even that was enough to get his heart pumping faster than usual.

Daichi raised his arm, "could I say something, Coach?"

Ukai took a step back as Daichi stood, gesturing him to continue, "Just because this is a practice match doesn't mean this is an opportunity to slack off. The last practice match we had, some of us let out concentration slip," he paused for a moment, trying not to make eye contact with the people he was referring to, "When you play volleyball, you play to _win_ , no matter who it's against, and no matter how high the stakes may be, s'that clear?"

A chorus of "yes sir!" echoed around the gym, before it came to life with various conversations and squeaking footfalls again, as everyone rushed to pack up equipment and get home.

Hinata had just been handed a permission slip to go all out tomorrow. He wanted to yell his excitement out to the world as he walked home with Kageyama that evening, spouting nonsense about his emotions with a variety of added sound effects. Unsurprisingly, Kageyama had threatened to strangle him a lot more than usual on the way home.

Fortunately for Hinata's health, they reached the point where they would part ways in not much time at all. But before they turned their backs, Hinata wanted to be reassured of something first.

"Hey, Kageyama?"

"What?"

Hinata smiled wide, "Make sure you send lots of balls my way tomorrow, okay?"

Kageyama huffed in response, and shoved Hinata's face to make him stumble backwards, "Why wouldn't I, dumbass? It's the best chance we've got of winning."

And with that, they went down their separate ways.

And so, Hinata had spent the entirety of that Friday begging for the clock to tick just a little bit faster as he fidgeted in his seat, desperate to sprint to the gym and get the match started.

Eventually his patience (or lack thereof) paid off, and he was in the gym with his team, preparing to begin the match.

It appeared that Hinata wasn't the only one buzzing with excitement, as Tanaka and Nishinoya came barrelling through the doors, almost crashing into Tsukishima and Yamaguchi in the process, but managing to narrowly avoid them in favour of tumbling into Hinata instead.

They both climbed off of the redhead, laughing out apologies as they helped him to his feet.

"Sorry, Hinata! I'm just so excited for this match! I know it's barely been week since our last one but it feels like ages, y'know?" Tanaka explained patting his Kouhai on the shoulder.

"I know, right? I can't wait to hit the ball again! I've been all 'bwah!' all day waiting for school to end," Hinata responded, giving hand movements to accentuate his point, "and now it's finally here I just- just-"

"Yeah, Yeah we get it, you're excited, now can you all please take your excitement to the other side of the gym where I don't have to deal with it. Tadashi and I were in the middle of talking before you came tumbling in," Tsukishima interrupted, irritation being the only way to describe his tone.

Yamaguchi smiled awkwardly beside his friend, seemingly apologising for his bluntness, but at the same time agreeing with his statement.

"Sorry, that's our bad, we'll leave you to it," Nishinoya smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. As much as Noya hated how blunt and rude Tsukishima was at times, it was unusual for Yamaguchi to not try and defend his behaviour, so the two second years backed away, dragging Hinata with them as they figured that this was probably a conversation that they didn't want to intrude upon even more so than they already had.

"Oi, Hinata!"

He turned at the sound of his name, to be met with Kageyama beckoning him over to the far side of the gym, a ball in his hand and a steely look in his eyes. He hadn't even realised that Kageyama was already here. Quickly breaking free of Tanaka and Nishinoya's grip, he ran to join Kageyama despite the protests he heard behind him as he left.

He noticed his setter glance to the doors of the gym behind him, "-Ah crap."

"What?" Hinata responded, confused.

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to practice a little before we started but everyone's already here now."

Hinata turned as Kageyama was speaking, to find Coach and Mr Takeda entering the gym, with the third years just behind them.

He echoed the setter's thinking, "Ah crap."

Kageyama threw the ball up in hands as he started to make his approach to the door, just as everyone else now was, "well, it's not like we haven't practiced enough before. As long as we stay concentrated, we'll win."

Hinata smiled, and nodded.

\--------------------------------

So far, what Kageyama had said was holding up. They were on their second set, and were now not far from match point. Hinata's team was made up of himself, Kageyama, Daichi, Narita, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. Of course, though they had taken the previous set, and were ahead for the time being, the other team were only a point behind them, and just one slip up could allow them to take the set for themselves.

Just as Daichi and Kageyama had said, concentration is the key.

_Focus on your team, on your surroundings, don't allow yourself to get lost in the moment._

Hinata found himself repeating the phrase in his head as he kept his eyes on the ball.

He had spiked at least a few times now, but it had been a while since he had a chance to, and he was beginning to get antsy. Kageyama clearly hadn't understood last night when he had said to toss _lots_ of balls.

Before he knew it, they were at match point. One more point and they would take the set. Hinata was determined to touch the ball one more time before that could happen.

It was Asahi's serve. For a moment Hinata didn't think Daichi had stopped it, but the ball suddenly appeared above him, flying back over the net.

"Sorry, guys!"

"Don't mind!"

Hinata watched carefully as their opponents made their move, a call of "chance ball," briefly registering before he watched Noya pass the ball into the air again, in Suga's direction.

To his left, Tanaka leapt into the air, arm poised to strike, as the ball flew towards him. Tsukishima and Kageyama blocked it, but it was made clear quickly that Tanaka was using the wall as a rebound, as the team went through a similar process to before. However, he saw that this time there were two spikers, Tanaka and Asahi, both sprinting forwards as Suga positioned himself beneath the ball.

At first Hinata thought he might go for Tanaka again, and he took a step to the right to join Tsukishima's block, rather than Kageyama's.

Suga glanced behind him, to the left, and tossed to Asahi.

Hinata felt the flood gates open as his veins filled with adrenaline. His vision tunnelled, and there was nothing but him and the ball.

He changed his direction in a millisecond and charged forward.

He leapt.

He heard the slam of the ball. But it wasn't against his hands.

He'd over-shot his jump.

He felt his side crash against something, hard.

And as he felt a second slightly less harsh impact, he heard a loud yelp, that he assumed he must've let slip accidentally.

All of a sudden he was on the ground.

No, he wasn't on the ground, he was on top of something, someone.

Realising as he opened his eyes that he had in fact fallen on top of Kageyama, he yelped, retreating quickly in an attempt to avoid the oncoming attack that his setter would give him.

But it never came.

Kageyama just curled in on himself slightly, a groan escaping his lips as he clutched his side.

Hinata realised then that it wasn't him who had yelled when they fell. It was Kageyama.

"Are you guys okay?" Daichi called, approaching behind him and resting a hand on his shoulder.

Everyone in the gym had seen the powerful impact that Hinata had made with Kageyama, and Hinata had felt it. It was easily enough force to create a nasty bruise, and Hinata himself was likely going to be bruised alongside his setter.

But what the small spiker didn't feel nor see was the impact that the pair had with the floor, Kageyama taking the brunt of the fall.

"Hinata?" Daichi pressed, now in front of him, with his hands gripping each of his shoulders. Noya and Tanaka were stood just behind Daichi, bending down to be at eye level with him, their expressions creased with worry.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," in truth, he wouldn't exactly say he was fine. His side ached and throbbed painfully, but as another groan was heard from the fallen setter, he found his pain easy to forget in favour of worrying about his friend.

And as the dark haired setter continued to lay still on his side, his breathing harsh and pained, and the rest of the team quickly gathered around the pair, concern etched onto each of their faces (even Tsukishima looked a little worried), Hinata felt a deep guilt form in the pit of his stomach as he realised that his friend was hurt because of him.

Hinata pushed Daichi's hands away and scrabbled to kneel next to Kageyama, stuttering out apologies, "I'm so sorry, Kageyama, I didn't mean to crash into you like that! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, please forgive me!"

Hinata waited a moment for the usual snarky response, but just like the attack he was expecting a short while ago, it never came.

It was then that Hinata noticed how tightly Kageyama's jaw was clenched, his eyes squeezed shut and eyebrows knit together. The next thing Hinata noticed were the tears rolling across Kageyama's face, and the soft whimpers leaving his mouth with each exhale.

Hinata's heart dropped.

"Kageyama, where does it hurt?" Sugawara knelt above the younger setter's head, placing a gentle hand on the arm that continued to hold his side. Each inhale that the raven haired setter took was sharp and almost sounded like a hiss, and his exhales were quick and crackling. 

Hinata felt a hand appear on his back as he stared at his friend, speechless.

"Hinata, I need you to step back so we can help Kageyama, okay?" Ukai spoke softly, in a way that Hinata had never heard him before. He hadn't even realised that Ukai had made his way across the court until that moment, too wrapped up in the situation to notice. It appeared that Takeda had done the same, kneeling on Kageyama's other side, mumbling quiet words of comfort as his student continued to let out noises of pain.

The redhead nodded, shuffling backwards to make room for coach to take his place, before pushing himself to his feet so that he could see what was happening over Ukai's head. Nishinoya and Tanaka moved to stand next to him, the former giving his shoulder a small squeeze, trying to help ease Hinata's worry at least a little by letting him know that they were there with him.

"Kageyama, is it your side that hurts?" Ukai asked, after Suga received no response to his previous question. Kageyama gave a noise of affirmation, moving his head downwards slightly in what looked like an attempt to nod.

Ukai lifted his hand towards the injured area, just below Kageyama's arm that was currently sprawled across the floor. Sugawara gave him a questioning look, confused at what the coach was planning on doing.

Ukai carefully rested his hand at the side of his ribcage, as far down as he could go without having to start forcing his way between the floor and Kageyama's body, before applying the slightest bit of pressure.

Kageyama's eyes shot open as he yelled out, Ukai quickly removing his hand again and cursing under his breath as the setter curled into himself even more, his whimpering now intensifying. Sugawara started to gently move his hand up and down his kouhai's arm, repeating the phrase, "it's okay, it's alright," in an attempt to give him any sort of comfort.

\----------------------------------

To say that the team was worried now was an understatement. Kageyama was one of the most composed and prideful of all of them, and for someone like him to be sobbing on the floor in front of the whole team without putting up any fight at all, he had to be in unbearable pain.

Daichi had moved to crouch between Suga and Takeda, looking slightly out of place as he clearly had no idea what to do. A member of his team had never been hurt quite this badly before. Even when he himself had been injured during their match against Wakunan it hadn't been quite this bad. At least when _he_ was injured he could still sit up.

Suga wasn't much better, but at least he had found some way to at least _try_ and be helpful. He hoped that showing the younger setter that he was there with him would provide him at least some kind of comfort. But he wasn't sure if anything would be enough to make Kageyama feel better when he was hurting so much.

Daichi took a brief moment to glance at the rest of the team.

Hinata seemed to be mostly uninjured, but he was sure that his side would at least be bruised. He could see on the redhead's face that he was desperately worried for his friend, and there was no doubt that he was feeling guilty too. Daichi made a mental note to reassure him that he wasn't at fault once Kageyama was dealt with.

Noya and Tanaka stood at Hinata's either side, and the captain realised that it had been a while since he'd seen either of them look quite so genuinely serious and concerned.

Tsukishima unsurprisingly seemed to be less worried, but what did catch Daichi off guard was that though his face said that he was unbothered by the scene before him, his eyes told a different story. As much as this was a horrible situation, Daichi was glad to know that despite Tsukishima's outside persona, he did care for his team mates.

Asahi looked panicked, his hands fidgeting in front of him. No doubt he felt slightly guilty too, being that he was the one who was spiking.

Kiyoko hovered at Asahi's side, seemingly sensing his discomfort and trying to silently console him, her hand rested on his back.

Yamaguchi and Yachi looked scared out of their wits, and it wouldn't have surprised Daichi if the two of them thought Kageyama was dying or something.

Well, to be fair, they didn't know what was wrong with him.

Daichi had heard of players falling and damaging their backs, or bruising their sides when colliding, but he hadn't seen a fall quite like the one Kageyama and Hinata had just had before.

Hinata had sprinted at what looked like his top speed, flying across the court, and as a result, completely over-shooting his jump and smashing directly into Kageyama. But because of the force behind the leap, they went down fast, the setter not even having a chance to lower his arms from their blocking position to protect his torso.

Daichi supposed that it was likely Kageyama had damaged his ribs, and if that was the case, then he needed a hospital. Damaged ribs could lead to a whole new variety of issues, if not treated properly or quickly enough.

The captain hoped he was wrong, and that it was just a very bad bruise. But with the reaction Kageyama was giving, Daichi's predictions were becoming more and more likely.

What Ukai said next, however, only made his hopes plummet even more.

"Specs, call an ambulance."

\-----------------------------

After Takeda had called for an ambulance, coach instructed the team to go back to the club room and get changed, both to give Kageyama some space, and because there was no way practice was continuing after this incident.

Daichi, Sugawara, Hinata and Nishinoya were the exceptions.

Noya hadn't removed his hand from Hinata's shoulder since he had placed it there earlier, and upon Ukai's instruction to call an ambulance, he tightened his grip, and he felt Hinata's shoulder jolt at the sudden increase in pressure. Nishinoya immediately removed his hand, turning to apologise for the sudden grab, but he found he couldn't get the words out as he realised Hinata was _crying_.

He was shaking where he stood, tears spilling out of his eyes as he watched his best friend lay in agony before him, the guilt he felt not long ago having doubled in size as he found there was nothing he could do to help his friend now. He had done the damage, and yet he could do nothing to help him, or even soothe him.

Ukai had deemed his injuries severe enough to go to hospital, and it was all Hinata's fault.

"Shouyou? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Noya questioned, alarmed. This grabbed Tanaka's attention, as he whipped his head around to face the pair, surprise on his face as he saw the tears on Hinata's cheeks.

His voice was shaky and thick as he responded, "No, I- I'm fine, but-" he paused, wiping at his eyes, "but Kageyama- this- this is all my fault."

The libero was taken aback. Hinata was blaming himself for this?

He lifted his eyes to Tanaka, the two sharing a worried glance, unsure of what they could do to comfort their kouhai.

Noya hesitated for a brief moment before wrapping his arms around Hinata's neck, embracing him, "It was an accident, Shouyou. It wasn't anyone's fault. No one blames you for this."

Hinata tensed for a moment, and Noya worried that he had done the wrong thing, before he felt his kouhai lower his head to press into Noya's shoulder, and slowly wrap his arms around his middle. Tanaka resolved to gently placing his hand on Hinata's back, and rubbing circles, avoiding his bruised side as well as he could.

Noya could feel the concerned gazes of his team mates as Hinata continued to sob into his shoulder, when Ukai quietly told the rest of the team to make their way back to the club room and change.

Nishinoya saw conflicting emotions clash across Tanaka's face when Ukai nodded at him and then towards the door, indicating that the order applied to him too. He wanted to stay and support his Kouhai, but he knew that Ukai didn't want to overcrowd Kageyama as they waited for the ambulance. He sighed, looking back to Noya briefly, making sure that he was okay with him leaving the shorter of the pair alone to comfort Hinata. Nishinoya smiled, grateful for the concern, before flashing a thumbs up behind Hinata's back, as if to say ' _don't worry, I've got this.'_

Tanaka smiled, giving Hinata one last gentle pat on the back before turning to join the rest of team as they left the gym.

\------------------------------

When Sugawara had tried to get up, Kageyama had said his first coherent thing since he fell, "No- Suga... don't leave."

Albeit it was practically inaudible, and his voice was shaky and cracking, but he got his point across.

Suga promptly resumed his position, and began combing his fingers through Kageyama's hair this time, rather than stroking his palm along his arm, "If you want me to stay, I'll stay."

If Kageyama was asking him to remain by his side, then he was clearly doing something right.

If looking at it from an outside perspective, it might appear odd for Kageyama to be asking Sugawara to stay. He hadn't exactly spent a huge amount of time with Kageyama. Of course there was practice and occasionally going out for meals, but other than that, they hadn't really spent all that much time together. So why was Kageyama so insistent on his Senpai staying?

But there were other occasions, when Kageyama would go to Suga for advice when it came to communication with the team. Most of the conversations they had were spent discussing how the younger of the two could be a little more friendly, and how he could try and be more supportive towards each of his team mates.

Suga was surprised that Kageyama was coming to him for help about that type of thing though.

When they had first met, Sugawara had presumed that Kageyama was the lone wolf type, and that it would have to take a lot of persuasion to get him to even try to open up, or even give a small compliment.

But one night after practice, when the team had gone to pick up some food from the Sakanoshita shop, Kageyama had asked Suga if he could discuss something with him before he went home. At first Suga had assumed he'd wanted to talk about volleyball, as per usual, but then he'd noticed that Kageyama wasn't wearing his usual scowl, and instead looked almost troubled. They sat down on a bench not far from the shop, food in hand, and Kageyama explained.

He began to open up.

Suga learned a lot about his Kouhai that evening, about why he was so closed off. Kageyama had been through a lot.

His parents died when he was young. He never really got a chance to know them. They'd disappeared from his life before he really got a chance to love them. But that didn't mean he didn't miss them. That was the first loss he experienced.

The second was when his sister stopped liking volleyball. Because when she stopped liking volleyball, she seemed to stop liking her brother too. Because the only thing Kageyama seemed to be interested in was volleyball, she lost interest in him. And even though they still lived in the same house, it felt like they were worlds away from each other. They stopped spending time together, and they rarely talked. And when she moved out for college, it only got worse. Now not only would he not really talk to her, he stopped being able to see her too. It was as if she had just removed herself from his life, and was pretending he never existed.

After his first year of middle school, Oikawa and Iwazumi graduated. Iwazumi was the only person on the team who had really even made an attempt to make him feel welcome. Oikawa, his captain, made it clear early on that he hated Kageyama. He'd said a few nasty things to his face, but it was really solidified for him when he'd overheard the pair talking as they left practice. Oikawa said he hated him. Iwazumi tried to defend his kouhai, but not without mentioning that he found Kageyama annoying. But yet, as much as the two didn't like him, Kageyama couldn't stop himself from looking up to them. Admiring them. Even after Oikawa had tried to hit him. So when they left, and made no attempt to keep contact, it hurt.

That was the third loss.

The fourth was his grandfather. From what Kageyama told Suga, he gathered that his grandfather was very, very important to him. He was the person who gave him volleyball, who taught him most of what he knew. His grandfather was the one thing in his life that he could genuinely say he loved more than volleyball. But one day he disappeared too, and all of a sudden there was an empty space in Kageyama's life where he used to be.

He lost his grandfather around a month before his final game with the Kitagawa Daiichi team.

It was then that it clicked for Suga. He realised before Kageyama even said it that the only reason he was the 'king', was because he was mourning. He was grieving, but he had no outlet for all of the pent up sadness and anger and confusion that he had swimming through his head. He had no one to talk to. So without him meaning to, he took out all of his frustrations on his team, and he pushed them away. The very last people that he had. They _left_ him.

And suddenly Kageyama was alone. Completely alone.

And he didn't want to be alone anymore.

He didn't want history to repeat itself.

He didn't want to hurt anyone else, or drive his new team away.

His new _friends_.

The first real friends he'd ever had.

So he was asking Sugawara for help.

When he was done with his explanation, he'd just looked up at Suga, after not making eye contact at all the entire time. He looked as if he wanted to cry.

Sugawara offered him a hug.

Kageyama accepted.

Suga realised then that Kageyama was not a lone wolf at all. He just didn't know how to make friends. He didn't know how to be kind, because the only person who had ever shown him true kindness was his grandfather. And he wasn't here anymore. But now his new team, these new people that had entered his life were showing him kindness, and Kageyama wanted to return the favour. But he didn't know how.

He wanted to change his ways. And Sugawara respected that immensely.

And now, Kageyama was hurt, and he was asking his Senpai to stay with him. He was trusting that Suga wasn't going to leave him alone and hurting just like everyone else had.

Sugawara wasn't about to betray that trust.

\---------------------------------

The paramedics decided not long after they arrived that it was likely a few of Kageyama's ribs were broken, or at least cracked. Despite the fact that he had been injected with strong painkillers, he still cried out when the paramedics forcefully straightened him out and rolled him onto his back so that they could place him on a stretcher.

"I wanna go with him," Hinata insisted for the umpteenth time.

Nishinoya had now gone back to club room, once Hinata had stopped crying and he was sure that his Kouhai would be alright on his own. He left asking Ukai to keep the team updated on the situation.

Since then, Hinata had been adamant in the fact that he was going to go with Kageyama, despite the coach's constant protests.

Ukai sighed, "Red, we already discussed that Takeda has to go with him, cause he's his legal guardian while in school, and Kageyama's made it clear enough that he doesn't want Suga goin' anywhere. There are only two extra seats in the ambulance, which means you can't ride with him," he tried to make his tone as kind as possible, he really did. But Hinata was refusing to listen no matter what he said, and it was beginning to grate on his patience.

"No- coach you don't understand," the red head kept trying, stuttering his words slightly, "I need to go with him. I need to make sure he's okay."

Ukai sighed again, fully prepared to continue refusing, until he saw the desperate eyes gazing up at him, the tear stained cheeks and the quivering lip. How was he supposed to say no to that?

He placed his hands on Hinata's shoulders and bent down slightly to be at his eye level, "alright, I'll tell you what. Me and the captain were gonna head down to the hospital in my car. It's not the ambulance, but if you hitch a ride with us, it means you'll be able to see Kageyama when we get there. Is that good compromise?"

Hinata looked surprised for a moment, as if he wasn't expecting Ukai to give in, before he rubbed at face with the heel of his palm, "O- okay," he paused before adding, "thanks, coach."

Ukai smiled softly, "no problem, kid."

Only a few minutes later, they were in the car and on their way to the hospital, the ambulance having left only a short while before them.

Daichi had chosen to sit in the backseats with Hinata, rather than in the passenger seat, hoping that the company would make the spiker feel a little more at ease.

Alas, it didn't seem to have worked, considering Hinata was fidgeting in his seat every five seconds, seemingly incapable of finding a comfortable position.

Eventually Daichi broke the silence, "I'm sure he'll be alright, Hinata," the redhead startled when Daichi spoke all of a sudden, whipping his head around from the window to face his captain.

He continued, "He's Kageyama. He's one of the most stubborn people I've ever met, so I doubt he's gonna let an injury like this get in his way."

Hinata pondered for a moment, considering Daichi's words.

"But what if-"

"Ah-" Daichi cut him off, raising his hand, "no more 'what if'. Stop thinking about the worst case scenarios. Let's just wait until we get to the hospital, and see what a doctor has to say, hm?"

His Kouhai stared for a moment, before nodding and responding with a soft, "okay."

The car delved back into quiet again, the only noise being the wind gusting through the passenger seat slightly opened window and the muffled sound of the tires spinning across the concrete roads.

Ukai was the one to break the silence this time, "hey, red?"

Hinata looked into the rear view mirror to find coach looking at him, "yeah?"

"I know you said you were fine earlier, but when we get a chance, I want to take a look at your side to see how badly bruised you are."

The spiker was immediately defensive, "I already said-"

"'You're fine', I know, but I think I'm gonna have to be the judge of that."

Hinata gave an expression that could rival Kageyama's scowl.

Ukai sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

Why on earth he agreed to be a coach was beyond him. These kids were gonna be the death of him, and at the rate things were going at the moment, it was probably going to be because of early onset heart failure.

One of the team was on the way to hospital for broken ribs, and another was presently sulking in the back of his car because he refused to admit he was hurt. Yep. These kids were gonna be the death of him.

But he had to admit, it was hard not to enjoy the job. The kids were both the highlight and the downfall. Ukai had never been good at dealing with teenagers, but he supposed being a coach wasn't all bad. It was nice getting to know each of their quirks and personalities. And it was nice to be trusted and admired. But he'd be lying if he said that it was all _good_ too.

"Listen, kid. I know that Kageyama's hurt, and that he's probably hurt worse than you are," he saw Hinata lift his head in the rear view mirror, "but just because someone's hurt worse than you doesn't mean you should ignore your own pain."

He could practically see the cogs turning in Hinata's head, trying to find some sort of retort that he could use to effectively counter.

Ukai didn't give him the chance, "Kid, seriously. I just wanna check and see if you're gonna be able to play tomorrow or not. 'Cause if you come into practice tomorrow with a bruised side and try playing, you're just gonna make it worse, and it's gonna hurt a whole lot more," he paused before adding, "not to mention that Kageyama would have your head if he found out you managed to wipe yourself out too. Especially if both Sawamura and I were telling you not to push yourself."

Daichi added from the backseat, "we just wanna properly make sure you're alright."

Finally Hinata gave in, "alright, fine," he folded his arms, reminding Ukai of a child having a tantrum, "but only after we find out what's going on with Kageyama."

Ukai shook his head, chuckling, "sure thing, red."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was a roller coaster.  
> I know that this is a bit all over the place, but hopefully it's not horrible. The next chapter is already in the works and is about halfway done, but I'm not sure when it will be out, because I have a lot of different projects I'm working on at the moment, so I'm kinda splitting my focus.  
> I've put a lot of time into this so far, so I would really appreciate if you left a comment! They fuel my writing!  
> Thank you so much for reading!


	2. The hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga reveals some troubling information to Ukai and Takeda.

Upon entering the hospital, Ukai immediately sped towards the reception desk, Daichi and Hinata trailing after him, and upon mentioning Kageyama's name, it hadn't taken long for a nurse to approach them and whisk them away to some type of relatives room, where they were reunited with Takeda and Sugawara.

Hinata wasted no time in asking questions, his mouth seeming to move a mile a minute, before Ukai finally caved and simply slapped his hand across the boy's mouth, muffling his voice just enough for him to get a word in.

"How's he doing?"

Takeda looked more worried than Ukai had ever seen him, and that was saying a lot considering all the shorter man ever seemed to do was worry.

He sighed, "they took him into surgery almost as soon as we got here. The nurse who brought us in here told us that they needed to realign his ribs so that they could heal properly, and to prevent further damage to his lungs. Then she just told us to wait in here, and that they would give us an update soon."

The trio took a moment to take in the information.

"Kageyama's in surgery?!" Hinata practically yelled, his voice rising in volume and pitch as he reached the end of his sentence. Even with Ukai's hand covering his mouth it was clear enough as to what he said.

"Hinata, not so loud. We're in a hospital, remember?" Sugawara scolded him lightly, clearly not having the heart to remove the softness from his voice when he saw the look of pure, absolute horror and panic on his Kouhai's face.

"And yes, he's in surgery," he took Hinata's hands in his own, and bent his legs slightly to be at his face level, "but the nurse assured us that he's going to be okay. The doctors looking after him are going to do their very best to take care of him."

Daichi appeared beside Suga, resting a hand on Hinata's shoulder, "There's no use in panicking. Let's just sit down and wait for that update, huh?" He gestured behind him to the two sofa's sitting in the corner of the room.

The pair led Hinata to one of the sofa's and sat the red head down in the middle, before placing themselves on his either side.

Ukai and Takeda shared a glance, smirking at the scene. Both Suga and Daichi constantly argued that they didn't act like parents to the rest of the team, but it was impossible to deny there was some parental resemblance.

The two adults sat down on the other sofa, before Ukai spoke up, his voice quiet so as to not let the teenagers hear him over their own conversation, "earlier you said the surgery was to prevent _further_ damage to his lungs. What did you mean by that?"

Takeda's smile was quickly replaced with the creased brow and worried frown his face wore a few minutes beforehand, "on the ride here, he- he started struggling to breathe properly, and the paramedics were saying something about his ribs pressing against his lungs," he paused, taking a shaky breath, "that was why he was taken into surgery so fast, because they were worried his ribs were going to pierce his lungs."

This was another part of the job he hated, the overwhelming fear and worry he felt whenever one of the team was hurt or sick. He had grown to care about these kids more than he could've ever imagined, and hearing that one of them seriously injured, and that the only thing he could do now was sit and wait for news was frustrating to say the least. The only thing Ukai could say was, "ah- shit."

Takeda chuckled coldly, "Yeah. 'Shit' is right," it was rare for Takeda to swear, especially with his students in such close proximity, but he felt that in the situation, it didn't really matter too much, "but like Sugawara said, the nurse assured us that he was going to be okay. So we've just gotta trust them to do their jobs."

"Do they know how long the surgery is gonna take?"

"They said that it could be anywhere between four or five hours."

Crap. The kids wouldn't be able to stay there for that long. And that meant that Ukai was somehow going to have to convince Hinata to let him drive him home, even before knowing if Kageyama was okay. But knowing him, and the amount of fight he put up to be able to go to the hospital in the first place, the coach would end up having to wrestle the red head back into the car.

But, Ukai supposed that if Hinata's parents were aware of the situation, they may let him stay.

"Would you be able to get in contact with their parents and let 'em know what's going on?" He asked, gesturing to the students on the other sofa.

Takeda nodded, "I've already called Suga's parents, and they're fine with him staying as long as he wants, so long as he's driven home by an adult. I'll get in contact with Sawamura and Hinata's parents now," he reached into his trouser pocket to bring out his phone as he moved to stand.

Ukai placed a hand on his, stopping him, "hang on, that reminds me. Have you managed to get in contact with Kageyama's family?"

The coach wasn't entirely sure of Kageyama's home life, as the kid didn't exactly talk about his family much. In fact, Ukai couldn't recall a single occasion in which Kageyama had mentioned his parents, or any siblings. He hoped that it was only because he didn't like to talk about himself, and not because of... well, other reasons.

Takeda sighed, "I asked Daichi to grab Kageyama's phone from the club room a few minutes before we left, so that I could use his emergency contacts to let his family know what had happened once we got to the hospital. But when I found his emergency contacts, they weren't his parents. Or any siblings. They were you and me."

Ukai was taken aback. He and Takeda were his emergency contacts?

"But, his family- why doesn't he-"

"Coach?"

The two adults turned at the sound of Suga's voice, to find the third year fidgeting in his seat, clearly having overheard the conversation, and wanting to add something. The other two teenagers were still engaged in their own exchange, Daichi doing his best to try and distract Hinata from the stress of the day.

"Yeah, Suga? Everything alright?" Ukai prompted gently.

"Sorry, I- I overheard what you were saying, but I think I can give a little explanation," he paused, waiting for approval to continue.

When he was met with a soft nod from both adults, he carried on, "without going into too much detail, Kageyama came to me a little while ago, and he talked to me about his home life. He doesn't really have a family. His parents died when he was young, and his grandfather, the man who raised him, passed away last year, a month before his last match with Kitagawa Daiichi," he voice lowered towards the end of his sentence, aware that he was sharing some very eye opening information. It wasn't hard to understand what he was implying.

"The only family he has is his sister. But she's practically abandoned him. Even if you could get in contact with her, I doubt there would be much point." 

The pair were speechless for a moment. It hadn't really even crossed Ukai's mind that any of these kids could be in shitty family situations until a few minutes ago. All of them always seemed happy and relatively carefree, like teenagers should be. They talked about their families from time to time, about parents picking them up from practice, or not being able stay for practice because of sick younger siblings. But when he thought about it, the only person who he'd never even heard mention his family was Kageyama. He hated to say it, but now that he had an idea of what his home life was like, things started to make sense.

Kageyama never having to check with his parents as to whether he was allowed to stay late after practice.

At training camps, he had shown that he was capable of cooking, and doing laundry, and various other household tasks. Not to mention the fact that he did these tasks without being prompted, as if he felt like he was expected to do them in order to actually eat or have clean clothes. As if he had completely forgotten that there were other people at the camp who could help him with these chores.

He never had anyone pick him up from school, or had his parents call him during practice to remind him to do his chores when he got home.

He closed himself off. He was respectful enough to his Senpais that they didn't pursue him, and he was abrasive and intimidating enough to not let his peers want to know him.

However it appeared that those last points weren't entirely true.

"Suga, how long have you known about this?" Takeda inquired.

"Only a few weeks," he hesitated, "he asked me to not tell anyone. The only reason I'm telling you now is so you know why his family aren't his emergency contacts."

Ukai nodded, "That's fair enough, Suga. Thank you for telling us."

Suga turned back to the conversation beside him.

Takeda exhaled shakily, "I'll go call Sawamura and Hinata's parents."

\---------------------------------------

"Alright kid, I think it's time we take a look at that bruise."

Around two hours had passed since their arrival at the hospital. A nurse had come into the room after about an hour, to inform them that the surgery was going well so far. She also told the group that the cafeteria was open, and they were free to go and grab food and bring it back to the relatives room. When Ukai left to do just that however, he came across her again in the corridor, and she asked as politely as she could whether himself or Takeda were Kageyama's parent. It wasn't exactly surprising that she would be little confused as to the relationships between himself and the first year.

He explained that he was Kageyama's volleyball coach, and that Takeda was a teacher at the school.

The nurse asked whether his parents were on their way.

Ukai explained Kageyama's family situation in as little detail as possible.

She nodded in understanding, and pointed him in the direction of the cafeteria before continuing down the corridor.

Ukai returned to the relatives room, food in hand, about ten minutes after he left.

He only remembered the agreement that he and Hinata made in the car when he noticed the red head fidgeting as he ate, avoiding letting his left arm fall to rest beside his torso. He waited until after everyone had finished their meals before bringing the subject up.

"But you said it would wait until after we knew Kageyama was okay!"

Ukai smirked, "No kid, we said it would wait until after we knew what was going on with Kageyama. Now we know. So let me check your bruise."

Hinata only grumbled in response, evidently remembering the terms of the agreement as Sugawara and Daichi giggled beside him.

Daichi stood and moved towards the other sofa, swapping places with the coach so that he could give Ukai room to sit.

Hinata carefully lifted the hem of his t-shirt, slowly revealing a large, dark and ugly bruise that painted a good portion of his side, from the top of his hip to just below his armpit.

Ukai winced just looking at it, shocked at how the red head had managed to be so mobile for the past few hours. But he supposed since he sat down it must've started to become more bearable, as the injured area wasn't being jostled about as much.

Daichi hissed, "how on earth have you been going around with a bruise like that? Why didn't you say something, Hinata?" He seemed to read Ukai's thoughts.

"I think it looks worse than it actually is. It stopped hurting as much after a little while," the first year responded.

Ukai lifted a hand towards Hinata's side, resting his fingers as gently as he could on against the skin. He glanced at Hinata's face, "I'm gonna use a little pressure."

Hinata nodded, grimacing in anticipation of the sting he was about to feel.

The coach pressed down slightly. Hinata grunted, but from his reaction, the pain didn't seem to be too bad.

Ukai did the same thing in a few places on the large bruise, some areas warranting a harsher reaction than others.

"Are you done yet?" Hinata asked, growing a little frustrated.

"Sorry, red. Yeah I'm done," Hinata let go of his shirt, letting it fall back to its usual position against his side, "and I think it's safe to say I want you to take two or three days off of training to let yourself heal up a bit."

Hinata whined, clearly hoping for that to _not_ be the verdict on the situation.

"Hey, think of it this way," Suga provided, "you'll be able to spend more time with Kageyama. Considering you won't be using your day for practice."

The red head seemed to lighten up a bit at that, realising that Suga was right. He would be able to spend all of Saturday here, with Kageyama.

They weren't sure how long Kageyama was going to be in hospital after his surgery was over, but Ukai was assuming it would be at least a few days, possibly a week. And his recovery at home would be even longer, maybe even lasting a couple of months. Ukai knew that Kageyama would be incredibly upset to find that out.

And Hinata was no doubt going to be lonely.

As much as the two would deny it, it was clear that they cared for each other. Of course, they would fight endlessly, and throw insults back and forth as if they were volleyballs.

However, Ukai had a feeling that neither of them really took the insults seriously. If anything the fighting had become so normal for them now that if it disappeared, they would miss it.

But Ukai also knew that their relationship wasn't just fights.

They spent their lunches in each others company, hunched over homework and struggling their way through it together.

Kageyama went over to Hinata's house at least once a week, sometimes more.

Once, when Hinata was sick, the coach had even overheard the taller boy on the phone, offering to pick up Hinata's little sister from school, when the red head was not in a fit state to do so.

They were close. Closer than most people would realise.

As much as their arguing was rather grating at times, on the occasions when they would be kind and gentle with each other, it was sweet to witness.

Hinata slowly repeating questions on homework that Kageyama didn't understand, and guiding him through the problems as best he could, despite the fact that the shorter boy barely understood himself.

The red head taking a tumble outside the gym, and Kageyama spending 20 minutes scouring the messy store cupboard for a med kit in the late evening, and patching up Hinata's shaved and bleeding palms and knees with such care and concentration, revealing a gentle side to the boy that Ukai didn't even know was there.

Kageyama desperately trying his best to learn how to give proper compliments, so that he could motivate his spiker when things started to get tough in matches.

Hinata desperately trying his best to get a grips on the idea of boundaries, at least with Kageyama, so that he didn't make his setter uncomfortable or cross any lines.

The two of them waiting for each other every day after school, just so that they could walk home together.

Hinata wouldn't be able to walk home with Kageyama for a while.

But he supposed that the red head would still be able to visit his friend after school, and on weekends. It's not like he was moving away, he just wouldn't be able to come into school for the next few weeks, or do anything too strenuous.

Kageyama probably wasn't going to enjoy staying at home either.

Ukai's thoughts halted, as a realisation hit him like a tidal wave.

He'd need to stay at home, and be looked after.

But he doesn't have anyone at home.

He doesn't have anyone to take care of him.

Shit.

\--------------------------------------

"Maybe Hinata's family would be willing to take him in?"

Ukai quickly grabbed Takeda and practically dragged him to stand outside the relatives room, shutting the door behind them, and muttering to the bewildered teenagers that they would be back in a minute.

"No, that wouldn't work. His mom is already swamped enough with _one_ teenage boy, not to mention a nine year old daughter, too," Ukai responded, racking his brain for any possible places where the kid could stay so he wouldn't be alone, at least while he was healing.

Kageyama would likely barely even be able to walk very far in the first week or so, so there was no way he'd be able to live alone.

"Would Sugawara's family be up for it, do you think?" the taller man asked, remembering how close the third year seemed to be with Kageyama, considering he had opened up to him.

"Maybe, but I think Suga has a couple of siblings, too. I don't know if they'd have the space or time to look after another person," Takeda replied, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

Who else might be available? Daichi likely wouldn't say no, as he would feel it's his duty as Captain to take care of his team, but finals were coming up soon, and to look after Kageyama, he would either have to sacrifice his studies, or not care for the first year properly. And knowing Daichi, his studies would be abandoned long before he would leave a team mate.

Tanaka or Nishinoya also wouldn't say no, but Ukai didn't think Kageyama would survive in the Tanaka household, and Nishinoya's case was similar to Daichi's.

The pair discussed a few more possibilities, before Ukai realised that there were no other options left, and finally gave in.

"I'll take 'im."

Takeda stuttered, "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I know your workplace is your house, so there's no problem there," he looked up at him worriedly, "but what about practice? You might not be able to attend as often."

Ukai smiled. Takeda, ever the analyst.

"Don't worry, Specs," the taller man reassured, "I live with my ma, remember? When I'm at practice, she'll still be around. And when she's not, I'll just have to skip practice," he paused, resting his hand on the teacher's shoulder, "and I know you'll be fine without me on the days I can't go in. From what the kids have told me, you were a great coach, even without too much knowledge on the sport."

Takeda blushed, his eyes wide with surprise and joy, but Ukai wasn't sure if it was from the sudden praise, or the touch that he had initiated. The taller man smiled inwardly, pleased with the reaction he received.

"If you're certain, then we'll do that," the teacher spoke up, clearing his throat sharply as Ukai removed his hand, "but I hope you're prepared to have the team visiting the shop a lot more than usual."

Ukai groaned, having temporarily forgotten about visitations. "I'm gonna have to set some visit ground rules, aren't I?"

Takeda chuckled, "If you don't want them to cause too much of a ruckus, then probably."

"You mean more of a ruckus than usual," he shook his head, sighing, "god, sometimes I think those kids are a damn travelling circus."

Ukai listened fondly as Takeda continued to giggle at his comments, glad that he could ease the shorter man's stress if only for a moment.

Today had been stressful for everyone.

Including Ukai himself.

Watching one of the kids that he had come to care about tumble to the ground, the sound of the impact echoing through the gym, was scary.

It could have just been in his head, but in the moment, he was sure he heard the crack of his ribs as he hit the ground. And the strangled yell that the dark haired boy had let out was something that the coach was not going to be able to forget for a long, long time.

As Ukai raced across the gym to be at the boy's side, he cursed himself for not being faster, for not having some sort of super human speed so that he could catch both boys from colliding with the ground the moment he saw them start to descend.

He could feel his heart shatter into pieces when he noticed that Kageyama Tobio, one of the most determined, strong and unyielding people he had ever met was sobbing on the wooden floor of the gym, his arm clutched around his middle and his entire body trembling.

It was scary.

And now that he had found out about his home life, it just made Ukai feel worse about it all.

He could only wonder how long Kageyama had been living alone, but it had to be around a year at this point. The poor boy was left to stew in his own sadness and grief after his grandfather had passed, and it made Ukai's blood boil thinking about how his team mates at Kitagawa Daiichi had abandoned him when he needed them most. To just leave him like that, in the middle of a match of all places... did they ever even consider Kageyama a friend in the first place?

Ukai didn't know much about Kageyama, but he knew that he was fairly socially inept, at least when it came to people who he would consider friends. Was that because he had never had a real friend before? Had Tobio gone through his entire life without anyone except his Grandfather? Had everyone just decided upon meeting him that he wasn't someone worth knowing?

It was unfair.

It was unfair that Kageyama had to put up with all of this, and to top it all off his so called 'team mates' just left him. How could they not have noticed anything was wrong? Did they not even consider where all of his sudden anger was coming from? Did they not care enough to even try and look at it from Kageyama's perspective?

Ukai had a right mind to find those boys and acquaint them with his fist. This kid, this _child_ had been dragged through hell and back.

His parents were dead.

His sister decided he wasn't worth her time, like everyone else, and his grandfather had died only a year ago, not long before the closest thing he had to friends turned their backs on him.

It made Ukai sick to think of all the pain this boy had gone through. To think what could have been going through his mind all this time. It _hurt_ to think about.

This poor, poor kid.

The coach wondered what Kageyama had done over the summer.

No family, no friends.

Not one person to care about him.

That would surely take a mental toll. It was likely Kageyama's mental health took a sharp nose dive, and Ukai dreaded to think about where that left the boy. He hoped that Kageyama hadn't done anything too drastic.

Ukai couldn't imagine being that alone. He had always had a group of people surrounding him, a support system. His parents, his grandpa, his friends.

He tried to imagine what it would be like without all of that. What it would be like to go through life without parents, to have a sister who didn't care, to never have any friends. And then the one person that was always there, the only person who had ever showed him love, to suddenly be ripped away, torn out of his life and leaving a gaping, festering black hole in their wake that would only grow, because there was no one there to help fix it.

To refill it.

Ukai would be broken. If he was in Kageyama's situation, as much as the coach hated to think about it, he knew himself well enough to know what he would've done.

He would've stepped towards that deep, crumbling hole and let himself tumble over the edge.

He would've wanted to follow after that person who left. The only one who cared. The only one who loved him.

He knew, _god_ he knew, that he didn't know _anything_ about Kageyama.

But he wished he did. He wished he could've been there.

But he also knew that he couldn't turn back time.

He listened to the quiet laughter of the teenagers through the door.

The deep, husky chuckling of Daichi.

The soft, gentle hum of Suga.

And the exhausted, but still ever bright giggling of Hinata.

He wished he could've been there.

If only to stand with Kageyama at the edge, and let him know he was with him.

But he could also see that though the hole was there for much longer than it should've been, and it likely wasn't ever going to completely be filled, Kageyama had people with him now.

And those people were not going to leave his side until a bridge was built across that gaping crevice in his heart.

A bridge that allowed him to reach the part of himself he had been struggling to get to for so, so long.

His happiness.

"Ukai?"

He was shot back into reality at the sound of his name, to find Takeda looking up at him, the smile from only few seconds before having disappeared without a trace, and replaced with the worried expression that the teacher wore all to often.

The coach stared dumbly for a moment as he realised that he had started drifting for what was apparently a little too long to be normal. Whoops. He probably creeped Takeda out a little bit.

The teacher took his staring as a sign to continue, "are you alright?" His voice was laced with concern.

Ukai was confused. Why wouldn't he be alright? How long was he daydreaming for for it to cause this much worry?

Takeda had his hand raised slightly, as if he wanted to reach out to him, "you- you're crying."

Oh.

That would explain it.

Ukai was taken aback for a moment, as he suddenly noticed that yes, he was in fact, crying.

He could feel the wetness of his cheeks, coupled with the droplets of water tickling the bottom of his chin as they fell onto his shirt. He mentally kicked himself for not noticing how blurry his vision was sooner.

Scrambling to remove all evidence of distress from his face, he was incredibly embarrassed to have been crying in front of his co-worker and not even _notice_.

He stilled when he felt fabric gently rest on his cheek, and he raised his gaze to find that Takeda had tugged his sleeve down over his hand to help wipe away the tears that for some reason, kept coming.

Eventually, the tears stopped, and by this point, Takeda was no longer using his sleeves, and was instead just using his thumbs to wipe away each droplet that fell, softly gliding them across Ukai's cheeks.

The taller man's hands were wrapped around Takeda's wrists, as he continued to stroke his face even after the crying had stopped. He stared understandingly into Ukai's eyes, his lips bound into a tight line, as the blonde refused to make eye contact, clearly embarrassed and searching for words to explain himself.

He didn't need to. It didn't take a genius to realise what was wrong. 

Takeda took a slow step forward, and wrapped his arms around the coach's middle, pressing his face into his shoulder before mumbling, "It's okay to be worried about him, or just plain scared," he paused as Ukai returned the hug, before chuckling emptily, "I know I sure am."

The shorter man swayed the two of them as they embraced, the movement barely noticeable to the eye, but Ukai could feel as the way his weight spread through his legs and feet shifted.

"I know, Specs," he hummed quietly.

After a few more seconds, they pulled away from each other, both smiling as they attempted to comfort each other through their fear.

"He's gonna be alright," Ukai wasn't sure if Takeda was trying to reassure the coach, or himself.

They both knew that he wasn't just referring to his injury.

Ukai sighed, a slight weight lifted from his shoulders, having now expressed his heavy fears and worries that he had no idea he was carrying, "Yeah. Yeah he is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's chapter two! The next one is probably going to take longer than this, because I haven't even started writing it yet. I was already about 2,000 words in when I posted the first chapter, but I'm not giving myself a headstart on this one, because I was excited to get it out.
> 
> This one is much more focussed on Ukai, (I may have to edit the tags to add UkaTake lmao) and I'm kinda using him as a way of exploring Kageyama's story a little more.   
> I don't know how many chapters of this I'm going to make. This is the first fanfic that I'm actually hoping to commit myself to finishing, but I have no clue how long it's actually gonna be. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
> 
> Thanks for reading! And feel free to leave a comment or a review, they fuel my writing :)


	3. Complications

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are complications in surgery. The group copes.

In Suga's mind, 'Complications during surgery' could mean a variety of things. On one end of the spectrum, it could be something relatively minor, such as difficulty in repositioning the damaged ribs, an issue that would add maybe half an hour to an hour of extra time onto the surgery. But on the other end, Kageyama could be fighting for his life on the table, perhaps his lungs having been punctured, or a major artery could have been nicked.

Suga struggled to keep the image his kouhai bleeding to death out of his head, while Hinata hiccupped quietly beside him, tears still rolling down his cheeks despite the fact that the news had been delivered nearly twenty minutes ago.

The nurse from before had knocked on the door, and entered looking slightly frazzled. At first the third year had felt relief that they were getting another update, especially considering he wasn't expecting they would get another one until the surgery was coming to an end.

It was then that the worry crept back in. Why were they getting another update so soon?

His hopes dropped when another woman, a doctor, entered the room behind the nurse, wearing an expression that Suga couldn't quite name. It quickly became evident that the news was not going to be positive.

She hadn't given details. 'Complications' could mean anything. Surely they would tell them if these complications were life threatening.

So Kageyama was probably fine, right?

But Hinata started panicking, and the tears started to fall all over again. Tucking the smaller boy into his side, shushing him gently as he rocked them both side to side slowly, he found it harder and harder to convince himself that Kageyama was okay. It was almost as if Hinata's fear was radiating off of him, and infecting Suga.

The concept was almost humorous. But when the red head's cries had slowed to a hiccup, Suga lifted his gaze to meet Daichi's, and behind the captain on the other sofa, Takeda and Coach.

Ukai was leant forward, sitting just on the edge of the cushion, his elbows rested on his thighs and his head in his hands. It was a shock to see their coach look quite so... defeated. Suga wondered if this was all getting too much for him. The whole team were aware that he never wanted to sign up to be their coach in the first place, Suga started to think that maybe this was why.

When watching a volleyball match, you can see that it's a fast paced sport. The receives, the tosses, the sets, the spikes and the serves are all extremely quick. Sometimes it's difficult for the eye to even keep up with the ball.

But even so, most people don't realise the danger that the game presents. Volleyball players have gotten seriously injured from falling into the stands while desperately trying to keep the ball in the air. Not to mention that landing awkwardly from a jump can do serious damage to the ankle. Or perhaps even slipping backwards while landing, and accidentally bringing their full body weight down onto their wrists. Or in today's case, a collision. It's rare for collisions to be quite this detrimental though. Usually they just result in a bruised side or maybe not even that. 

Today was a situation that Sugawara had never seen before.

He just hoped that he would never have to see one of his team mates in as much pain as Kageyama was, ever again. He hoped he'd never have to see one of his friends desperately gasp for air in the way Kageyama did in the ambulance, eyes wide and frantic, or be forced to do nothing but watch as the setter panicked, reaching out for Suga's hand while the heart monitor practically screamed at them.

Scary doesn't even begin to describe it.

Once he and Takeda were in the relatives room, finally hidden away from the rest of the world, given a moment of privacy, he let a few tears slip. When Takeda brought a packet of tissues from his pocket to share, he pretended not to notice his Sensei dabbing at his own eyes after handing Sugawara a tissue.

He genuinely thought that Kageyama was going to die in that ambulance. That he was going to watch as Kouhai suddenly went still, no longer fighting to keep oxygen in his lungs, no longer reaching out, blindly seeking the comfort of his Senpai. No longer breathing. No longer _alive_.

He was glad Hinata wasn't in the ambulance to witness it.

It was safe to say Ukai was probably stressed beyond belief. Not to mention worried. Based on Takeda's distressed expression, he was no different.

It wasn't uncommon for Takeda to be rather on edge, but seeing one of your students in such a state would probably be enough to send even the most level headed of teachers into a panic.

Daichi didn't look to be doing too much better than the rest of them, though Sugawara could tell he was trying to hold himself together in front of Hinata. Suga was the captain's best friend, and by this point he could read him like a book. His face wore a similar expression to the one he would have the day after losing a match. Except now it was much more noticeable. His eyebrows were pinched together tightly, and his lips were pressed into a thin line. One of his hands was gently rubbing circles into Hinata's back, while the other rested tense in his lap, his knuckles almost white. With his head bowed like it was, the shine in his eyes was easy to miss. Daichi likely had his head lowered deliberately, just in case Hinata decided to suddenly lift his head to look at him. He always had a silly thing about wanting to be strong for the rest of the team. Suga thought that had mostly meant after losing matches, but evidently that wasn't the case.

Sugawara was trying his best to hold it together. To hold _himself_ together.

It was ironic, how he was questioning Daichi's choices to remain strong, while he was doing the exact same thing.

He was struggling to say the least.

Eventually, Hinata's crying ceased, and he pulled away from Suga's embrace slowly, rubbing at his eyes.

"Sorry," his voice was barely audible, and cracked slightly after the strain of sobbing for so long. The setter took a moment to examine his face, taken aback by the shorter boy's apology. What on earth could he be sorry for? The pink tint to his cheeks, and his attempts to hide his face behind his hands gave him his answer.

"It's alright, Hinata," Suga made his voice as gentle as he could, both him and Daichi keeping a hand on the redhead's back, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

Hinata whined, "I made your shirt all wet and gross," he paused, "sorry, Senpai."

Suga noted that his shoulder was now significantly more damp than it was 20 minutes ago, but he didn't mind it all that much. It was just a shirt, it could be washed.

"Hinata, it's okay, really," he smiled softly at the boy.

"It's alright to be worried too," Takeda added from the other sofa, "you're not the only one who's feeling a little scared. You don't have to be embarrassed."

When Hinata lifted his face to look at this teacher, he quickly noticed Ukai sat just behind him, still with his head in his hands. Suga saw as a flash of surprise appeared on the spiker's face. Honestly, Suga was still slightly surprised himself, and he was beginning to wonder if Ukai had just fallen asleep in that position.

Proving his thoughts wrong, Ukai lifted his head, likely feeling the multiple pairs of eyes on him. He placed his chin in his hands, his elbows still resting against his knees.

"He's a strong kid," his eyes locked with Hinata's, "he's gonna be okay."

Though Suga knew that Ukai had no way of determining this, he couldn't help but feel a little more at ease. The coach's tone had been more firm and determined than Sugawara had ever heard it, almost as if he was suggesting that he would personally make sure Kageyama would be okay. In all honesty, the third year wouldn't be surprised if that was _exactly_ what he meant. In fact, he would probably be joining Ukai in that escapade.

Hinata nodded silently, leaning back into the sofa cushions.

"How much longer did they say it would be?" Daichi supplied, trying to redirect the topic of conversation slightly.

"Well, they said the complications could add anywhere between thirty minutes to two hours onto the time, so it's anywhere between two hours or four," Takeda responded, lifting his watch closer to his face.

It had to have been getting late now, they had already been at the hospital for three or four hours. It was probably already dark outside.

"Why don't we try and get a little bit of sleep?" Suga offered, "We're all pretty exhausted, and it might be nice for Kageyama to wake up to a group of people who _aren't_ about to collapse." He smirked slightly towards the end of his sentence, having noticed that Hinata was already dozing before he even started speaking. Suga wondered how much pain his bruise was causing him. He assumed very little, at least right now. If it was hurting badly then it would be unlikely that the red head would be fighting to keep his eyes open the way he was now, his head slowly lolling to the side.

"I think that might be a good idea," Daichi responded, joining the red head in leaning back against the sofa.

The coach nodded, "yeah, you kids get some shut-eye, you've had a long day. We'll stay up in case there's any more news," Ukai reassured as Suga shifted himself into a more comfortable position, turning to face the other two on the sofa. He glanced at Daichi, giving him a tired smile before closing his eyes. It didn't take long for him to fall into sleep after that.

If you asked Ukai, he would deny taking a photo of the three of them curled up on the sofa, huddled together with their arms wrapped around each other. Of course, he'd be lying, but the trio didn't need to know that.

\------------------------------------

The first thing Kageyama noticed was that he felt exhausted.

He felt like he had slept for days on end, and his brain was struggling to wake at it's normal pace. With his eyes still closed, he wasn't entirely sure where he was, but he assumed it was a hospital room. The slow, even beeping to his right seemed to match his heartbeat, and there was a sharp metallic tang of harsh cleaning products filling the air, attacking his lungs with each inhale. Not only that, but he could tell the bed he was laying in was not his. The memory foam mattress and thick, winter-weight quilt were no where to be found, instead replaced with a hard, uncomfortable, pathetic excuse for a mattress, and a thin, flimsy blanket, offering him practically no warmth at all. The only good part of the bed was the pillow, which was arguably better than his one at home. It felt newly fluffed, and almost warm, which was a stark contrast to the one on his own bed, considering he rarely ever took the time to fluff it, and instead tended to leave it flat.

He knew exactly why he was here. Which was strange, because on most of the shows or films he watched, it seemed that after waking up in hospital, you would lose all memory of what happened to put you there.

He was in the gym, playing a practice match against the rest of the team. It was going well, and his team were ahead by a few points. Then he remembered being in the air, looking to his left and seeing Hinata charging towards him at breakneck speed. They collided, and fell. And then there was a white hot pain in his ribs.

It was much more blurry after that.

There were flashes of Suga, whispering gentle comfort to him. He thought he might've cried. He wasn't sure though. There were mentions of an ambulance, and then there were sirens. At one point, he couldn't get air into his lungs, and it hurt. It burned. It felt like someone had just grabbed his lungs and squeezed, pushing all of the air out, and refusing to let him get any more in. It wasn't long after that that the memories stopped. It would probably be safe to say that was where he lost consciousness.

After laying for a little longer, awake but with his eyes still closed, he made an attempt to view the room. He cracked his eyes open slowly, his right first, then his left, both of them still only appearing as slits, barely letting any light in at all.

Damn it, why were hospitals so bright?

Eventually, after opening his eyes little by little, he was proven correct. He was indeed, in a hospital.

He knew he was hurt, probably rather badly, but he still wasn't sure just how bad it really was. If he was to guess from the amount of pain he was in when he was first injured, he would say that his ribs had been shattered to pieces, but that likely wasn't the case. Kageyama knew he was a little dumb, but he wasn't _that_ dumb.

The pain however, was making no appearance now. It was then that he noticed the IV tube sticking out of the back of his hand, connected to a bag by the side of the bed, next to what looked like the heart monitor making the beeping sound. Pain meds injected through said tube were the likely cause for his lack of discomfort. Well, maybe not lack. The bed was still incredibly uncomfortable.

Should he be telling someone that he's awake? How would he even go about doing that? He thought back to the few medical drama's he's watched, but he couldn't seem to find any memory of this sort of situation. There was always someone in the room when the person woke up.

But now, he was painfully alone in the room, accompanied by nothing except the constant, steady beeps of his heart.

That was until, a nurse entered. Kageyama wondered for a second if there were cameras hidden somewhere, used to keep track of when patients would wake. But his thought process was quickly proven wrong by the nurse's surprised exclamation of, "ah, it's good to see that you're awake."

She continued, making her way over to his bedside, and checking the various monitors attached to his body, "how do you feel?"

In all honesty, he was actually fairly okay. He was exhausted, and it his head hurt a little from the lights, but otherwise he was alright.

"I'm fine."

Woah. Was that his voice? Was that _his_ voice? He realised upon replying that his throat was as dry as a desert, and it felt as if he had swallowed sandpaper as he spoke. It _hurt_.

He coughed harshly, and the nurse startled before moving a few steps to her left and bending forward. She returned to his beside a few seconds later, a small plastic cup of water in hand. Resting her free hand under his neck, she slowly tilted his head upwards, before gently pressing the cup to his lips.

To say it was embarrassing to have someone he didn't know literally feeding him water was an understatement, but as the cold, soothing liquid slipped down his throat, Kageyama couldn't find it in himself to care. Letting his eyes slip closed, he took a few more blissful sips, until the nurse pulled the cup away. He had to force himself not to chase after it, but he found as the woman lowered his head back to the pillow that he likely wouldn't have been able to anyway.

"Better?" She asked softly.

He hummed affirmatively.

She placed the cup back where she got it from, which Kageyama could now see was a table, a stack of cups and a jug of water placed atop it. Turning back to the machines, she continued to seemingly inspect them again. Kageyama assumed she was monitoring his vitals, or something like that, though the only machine he understood the function of was the heart monitor, the rest of them were foreign to him.

"I'm going to leave for a moment to grab your doctor, and then she's going to ask you a few more questions," she said, facing him again, a comforting smile on her face, "and then you can ask her any questions that _you_ might have. Does that sound okay?"

He hummed again, and then he was alone once more.

Kageyama already knew what questions he was going to ask. He wanted to know what was wrong with him, and whether any of his team mates had cared enough to stick around. Of course, he wouldn't blame them if they didn't, he wasn't exactly the nicest person on earth. In fact it wouldn't surprise him if he were alone. But he hoped that those flashes of Suga trying to comfort him were a sign that at least _he_ cared. And that would be enough for Kageyama. He'd never had many people care about him before, so he wasn't expecting any different now, but he hoped that maybe, just maybe _someone_ did. That at least _one_ person cared if he was okay or not.

He thought of Hinata.

Would he care? Knowing him, he'd probably feel guilty for having collided with him in the first place, but it was doubtful he would for very long. After all, Kageyama likely had this coming, considering how bad of a friend he'd been to Hinata. How bad of a person he'd been to his team.

But he was trying. He was trying to get better. He thought he _was_ getting better. But maybe not. Or maybe this was Karma's way of getting back at him, for making everyone who came into contact with him sad or angry or _dead._

The door clicked open again, and a woman who looked to be around thirty entered, followed by the nurse.

She wasted no time in making her way over to the bed and introducing herself, the nurse stood not far behind her. Kageyama had never been good with names, so he was glad that he at least had the title of "Doctor" to fall back on should he need it. The doctor seemed to have a rather erratic aura about her, as if she had been awake for the past forty-eight hours, but even so, there was a kind smile on her face and soft glint in her eyes. Kageyama couldn't say he didn't appreciate her attempt at being comforting.

The doctor repeated the nurse's question from earlier.

Kageyama gave the same reply, albeit without the explosive coughing fit.

"That's good to hear, then," she paused glancing at the monitors, "do you remember what happened, Kageyama?"

He wondered for a moment how she knew his name, because he was sure he hadn't told her, or the nurse for that matter. But he was quick to realise that, of course she knew his name. She will have found out from the paramedics, who found out from his team.

He nodded, though it was difficult to do against the pillow, "I collided with Hinata during a volleyball match, and we fell."

The doctor hummed, "yes, you fell and landed on the side of your rib cage, breaking three ribs, and bruising two, all on your left side."

Kageyama's response was immediate, "will I still be able to play volleyball?"

The doctor chuckled, "eventually, yes. But not for at least a fair few weeks, possibly a few months yet."

As much as that wasn't the answer Kageyama was looking for, he supposed it was still better than never being able to play again.

"You probably don't remember much between falling and now, so would you like me to fill you in a little bit?"

The setter nodded.

"Well, in the ambulance, you began to have trouble breathing, meaning that at least one of you broken ribs had shifted slightly, and was putting pressure on your left lung," She paused, gauging Kageyama's reaction to determine whether it was appropriate to continue. She was met with a curious stare, but there were no signs of distress. She continued, "When you arrived you were immediately taken for emergency surgery, so that we could correct the position of your ribs.

"However, during the surgery there were a few complications. A bleed was caused while moving the one of the ribs back into place, but it was fixed quickly and was properly dealt with. Other than that incident, everything went according to plan."

Kageyama took a moment to think over all of the information he had been given. To find out the he had had a major operation done on him without him having any knowledge of it, was suffice to say, a lot.

"But, I'm okay now?"

The doctor smiled, "you are."

There was a comfortable silence for a few moments as Kageyama contemplated.

"How long has it been?"

"Since you were taken into surgery, it's been about six hours. It's about half past ten PM right now," she glanced at the watch around her wrist, before chuckling again, "your friends have been very worried about you."

Kageyama must have made some sort of expression at that, because the Doctor's smile somehow softened even more.

"My friends?" He responded quietly, uncertainty audible his voice's shakiness, "they're here?"

"Of course they are," the nurse joined in the conversation, stepping forward, "they seem to care about you a lot. Especially the short red headed boy."

Hinata? He was here?

Kageyama couldn't help but feel elated at that, knowing that Hinata did actually give a shit about him, even if the setter might not deserve it. And by the nurse's use of plurals, there were other people from the team here too. He hoped Suga would be one of them. He seemed to vaguely remember asking his Senpai to stay with him at some point, but he couldn't quite picture when that was. He hoped Suga had fulfilled his request.

"Would you like to see them?" The Doctor spoke up again, drawing Kageyama away from his thoughts.

"Yes please," he was probably a little too eager in his response, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

He knew that he should probably be feeling some sort of embarrassment or shame, based on the fact that he had been sobbing on the floor of the gym in front of the whole team, as well Coach and Takeda-Sensei only a few hours beforehand, but despite himself and the situation, he really didn't care. But he doubted even Tsukishima would hold it against him for that, considering he had broken three ribs, as well as two bruised ones.

As the Doctor and Nurse left once again, with assurance they would be back in a few minutes, Kageyama continued to ponder.

Breaking three ribs was a rather strange injury to get from _volleyball_. The most common injuries were joint related, from the ligaments being worn down over time and finally giving in. Or more rarely, head injuries, similar to the one Daichi had experienced when colliding with Tanaka. Ariel collisions caused bruising at the most, because usually both players involved would be able to catch themselves before they hit the floor. But because of the sheer force behind Hinata's impact, it sent the two of them down _fast_ , tilting them in the process and giving Kageyama no time to even lower his arms from their blocking position. It could have been that Hinata's weight on top of him had added to the impact too.

He realised he didn't know if Hinata was okay. If Kageyama was this hurt, did that mean Hinata was hurt too? Surely the Nurse or the Doctor would have said something if that was the case. And the Nurse had even mentioned Hinata himself. That probably meant that he was no worse than bruised. Probably. Kageyama still worried.

He hadn't even realised how much time had passed when the door opened once more, and a familiar head of red hair appeared in the doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!  
> This one is a little shorter than the others, but hopefully you guys like it! Apologies for it taking so long, I've been struggling to write at a fast pace recently, so the next chapter may take the same amount of time to get out, if not longer.  
> I plan on having a bit more Hinata focus in the next one, and of course, we will have the long awaited Kagehina interaction. But again, it may take a while to write, so, sorry in advance for that!  
> I hope you enjoyed reading, and please feel free to leave a comment or review, they fuel my writing :)


	4. Visiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama is awake, and some members of the group have some things they want to say.

Walking through a corridor had never been such a simultaneously exciting and nerve-racking activity for Hinata. And that was including before all of the matches he'd played, the ones where he would have to desperately search for a bathroom so he could throw up.

Unlike his matches though, this odd mixture of joy and fear had only had time to fester for about forty-five minutes, when the nurse and the doctor returned to tell them that Kageyama was at long last, out of surgery. Before that moment, all he was feeling was worry. Worry that something was going to happen to Kageyama.

But alas, the doctor informed them that despite the slight mishap halfway through, the surgery had gone well, and the setter's ribs had been repositioned successfully. They waited another while to be allowed to see the setter, and eventually the pair they had become rather familiar with arrived again, this time to collect them to visit their now conscious friend.

And so, marching down the corridor with his team mates, his coach and his teacher in tow, lead by the kind doctor and nurse, Hinata's worry was coming from a different place now.

Kageyama would be _furious_ with him. Hinata had seriously injured him, and if his injuries were any worse, Kageyama could have potentially been unable to play volleyball ever again. Would he even want to see Hinata? Was it appropriate for the person who hurt him in the first place to be one of the first people to visit him?

Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe Hinata shouldn't visit the setter yet. His pace slowed, and he began to lag behind the group.

"Hinata? You alright?" Daichi slowed his pace to match Hinata's, eventually slowing to a stop, "Is your side hurting?"

Suga had stopped alongside Daichi now, the adults also slowing their pace, noticing that half of the group was lagging behind.

"You guys should go in without me. Kageyama will probably be angry with me, and I don't wanna upset him," the spiker hung his head.

Suga and Daichi shared a look.

"Hinata, I don't think he's going to be angry with you," Suga attempted to reassure the boy, "if anything, I think he'll be really happy to see you."

"No he won't. He'll hate me. I hurt him."

Suga sighed, "Please believe me when I tell you, Hinata, he will be over the moon to the see you."

Hinata resolutely stayed where he was.

"You want to apologise to him, right?" Ukai spoke from behind the third years, "how d'you expect to do that if you don't even go and see him?"

The red head pondered for a moment. There was no way what Suga was saying was true, but Ukai did have a point. He knew that going in there only to apologise was selfish, especially because it was for his own conscience, but his urge to make sure with his own eyes that Kageyama was okay was overwhelming. He just wanted to say two words, 'I'm sorry.' And if Kageyama would let him at least do that, then he would be happy.

He nodded, "okay."

And they were off again.

Rounding a corner, Hinata spotted on one of the approaching doors a name he recognised.

_Kageyama Tobio_

There was another name underneath it, one that Hinata presumed belonged to the doctor looking after Kageyama.

"Alright, we're here," the doctor turned around, coming to stand just next to the closed door. Her voice was quiet, speaking in a much lower volume than she had been a few minutes prior, "you need to make sure you're quiet while you're in there, because as you know, he's just come out of a major surgery and is now on a lot of pain meds. He might be a little confused or slow for a little while, so you just need to be patient with him, okay?"

She reached for the door handle as the group gave various sounds of affirmation, "if anything happens, or if you need anything, don't be afraid to let someone know."

Hinata was practically buzzing as she finally, _finally_ opened the door.

In a bed on the other side of the room, a head of black hair slowly turned to face the doorway, revealing the exhausted face of none other than-

"KAGEYAMA!"

Ignoring the panicked shushing from behind him, Hinata raced across the room to be at the setter's bedside. Kageyama flinched at the _very_ loud call of his name, but the joy he felt upon locking eyes with the shorter boy outdid the ache in his head.

"Hey, dumbass," he rasped as Hinata came to a stop.

All of a sudden, the tears had returned, "you- you're alive!"

Kageyama scowled, "dumbass, of course I'm alive, why would you- s- stop crying! Boke!"

"I- I can't, I-" the red head pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes, and paused for a moment to steady his shaking voice, "I'm just so happy you're okay."

Kageyama's eyes widened, and he almost thought that he misheard, "you- you are?"

A flash of confusion crossed Hinata's face, but before he could inquire, more figures appeared at his side.

"Kageyama," Suga started, his relief audible as he practically sighed his name, "you're okay."

"Hi, senpai," the younger setter gave a rare smile, blinking slowly.

"How're you feeling?" Daichi enquired, his eyebrows furrowed.

Kageyama contemplated his answer, "fine, I guess. I'm just tired more than anything."

"So you're not in any pain?" Hinata asked, his voice still high and shaking as he struggled to cease the flow of tears.

"Not really," he inhaled, "a little achey, but nothing more than that."

The red head nodded, "good. That's good."

There was silence for a few moments, as the group continued to process that yes, Kageyama was okay, at least for the most part, and he was right there in front of them. Alive. The wavering fear from earlier had dissipated, replaced with overwhelming relief.

The bedridden boy hummed, gaining the rooms attention, "the doctor said I won't be able to play for a while. A couple months probably."

Hinata's shoulders dropped. Kageyama wouldn't be able to play? For a few _months_?

He tried to stop himself from crying, he really did. But apparently his will wasn't strong enough to stop the choked sob from escaping his lips.

"I'm so sorry, Kageyama!" He was louder than he meant to be, and his voice cracked as he spoke, "this is all my fault and I'm so so sorry!"

Kageyama hummed once more, "I forgive you."

All heads in the room whipped away from Hinata to stare wide eyed at the injured teenager. Surely Hinata had just imagined that, right? There was no way that Kageyama just said-

"I forgive you," he repeated, with slightly more conviction this time, "it was an accident. It's not like you meant to hurt me."

As true as that statement was, Hinata couldn't help but feel enraged all of a sudden. Was Kageyama completely stupid? Why the hell was he forgiving him this easily? Hinata had broken Kageyama's ribs and sent him into an emergency surgery! He didn't deserve to be forgiven!

It seemed however, that his anger only manifested itself in more tears, much to his dismay.

"Boke, why are you still crying? I'm not angry with you."

"But I'm angry with you!" Hinata all but sobbed, once again far too loudly, "how dare you forgive me so easily! I hurt you! I don't deserve to be forgiven!"

"Hinata, I know this is a difficult situation, but you need to calm-"

"Its not fair, Kageyama. You should be furious! You should be throwing your usual Kageyama-hissy-fit and more, because you have every right to! I don't deserve your forgiveness!"

He stared down at the astounded ravenette, breathing heavily, tears still running down his cheeks. It quickly hit him what he had just done, his expression dropping from one of fury to terrified realisation.

God, he was such an asshole. He just yelled at his best friend while he was injured and on stupid amounts of pain meds. He really couldn't stop digging this hole, could he? Now Kageyama definitely wasn't going to forgive him.

"I think... that's my choice to make," Kageyama spoke slowly, as if he were still processing what Hinata had said.

"What?" The red head questioned, utterly bewildered at his friend's response.

"Whether I forgive you or not," the ravenette continued, "it's my choice to make, right?"

Hinata stared.

"So I forgive you."

Kageyama was dumb. He was the dumbest person Hinata had ever met. He had to be the most idiotic person on earth, because the red head didn't know of anyone else who would forgive someone for breaking their ribs and damn near piercing their lungs.

But there he was, staring up at the shorter boy with his exhausted yet honest eyes, telling him that he was forgiven. Of course Hinata had worried over nothing. After all, Kageyama rarely spent more than five seconds when thinking things over, and the spiker suspected right now that time was even less, considering he wasn't exactly in his right mind with the pain medication.

Hinata sighed. Maybe when Kageyama was sober, and thought things over a little more, he'd realise that his immediate forgiveness was foolish, and he'd take it back. He'd shout and scream like the red head was expecting him to.

But perhaps right now, being forgiven wasn't such a bad thing.

Hinata still hadn't forgiven himself. He probably wouldn't for a very long time. As long as the image of Kageyama sobbing on the floor of the gym remained in his memory, he wouldn't have the strength to convince himself that he was worthy of forgiveness. But if right now, Kageyama deemed him worthy of being forgiven, then he supposed he could live with that.

Daichi patted his back, "c'mon, there are chairs over there. Why don't we move them here and sit down?"

"That sounds like a plan to me," Suga added, speaking with a slight bit of forced enthusiasm, but it was welcomed.

Hinata turned to follow them, and assist in carrying the chairs from the side of the room, when he noticed Ukai and Takeda were still stood in the doorway, having just watched the scene unfold.

"Are you guys gonna join us?" Suga asked.

Ukai shrugged, "I think we'll leave you kids to it for a little while."

"We're just gonna sit outside, give you guys some time to talk," Takeda added, "we'll give you an hour or so, then coach'll take you guys home."

Ukai left the room, Takeda close behind, "and Hinata?"

Hinata perked up, scrubbing at his eyes, "yes, sir?"

"Please remember to lower your voice."

Daichi and Suga chuckled, and to their surprise, Kageyama gave a smirk to the comment, raising his eyebrows amusedly.

Watching as the three placed the chairs back on the floor, sitting themselves comfortably at his bedside, Kageyama sighed contentedly. Maybe the team did care about him. If Hinata's outburst was anything to go off of, at least he definitely cared. Or he just felt guilty. Kageyama liked to think it was the former. He really hoped it was the former.

As Suga carefully picked up another conversation, avoiding discussing the events of the day, Kageyama found himself very thankful that there were people like this in his life. Even if they didn't like him all that much. He knew it was selfish, but after the day he'd had, he thought he'd earned the right to be a little selfish. At least for this one hour.

\----------------------------------

"Suga, I thought I told you not to message the team."

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to let everyone know that he was okay, and then they started asking questions, and the rest of the info just kinda spilled out."

"Oh yeah, blame it on them. Nice."

"You shush it Daichi, this has nothing to do with you, thank you very much."

"Okay, okay. It's not a problem. Just- how much do you guys know, then?"

Practice on Monday was hectic to say the least. Well, at the start, it wasn't even really 'practice'. The whole team was just sat anxiously in a circle on the floor, waiting for Takeda to arrive and share with them all of the information that Sugawara hadn't already spilled.

"He has broken ribs, right?" Noya supplied, his hands fiddling in his lap.

"He does. Three broken ribs, and two bruised," Takeda responded softly, trying to be as gentle as possible with his approach.

"And he was taken into surgery?" Surprisingly it was Tsukkishima who spoke this time, looking bored as ever. But his tone had changed for his usual snark to instead be one of seriousness. Tsukkishima's version of concern.

"Upon arriving at the hospital, he was immediately taken into an emergency surgery, yes."

"'Emergency'?" Ennoshita enquired.

"Emergency," Takeda exhaled, contemplating how to explain. The only ones in the room who knew what had happened in the ambulance were Sugawara and himself. That part he had explicitly stated to Suga to not tell _anyone_ about, due to how sensitive the situation was. "In the ambulance, around halfway to the hospital, Kageyama started having trouble breathing."

"Are we talking like, wheezing, or... more serious?" Tanaka asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"More serious, I'm afraid. Because of the position he landed in, his broken ribs were shifted, and began to press against his lungs, making it very difficult for him to breathe."

Takeda watched as each of their faces dropped.

"He's fine now, I can assure you. He's still in hospital at the moment, and will be for the next few days, possibly a week," the teacher did his best to reassure the team, but his words didn't seem to make much effect, "He's recovering right now. And Ukai is with him."

He took a moment, letting the information sink in with the team before continuing, "I know that it was very scary. Seeing your team mate, your friend, like that was... needless to say, upsetting. And I know that some of you are likely still coming to terms with fact that it even happened in the first place.

"If any of you don't feel up to doing practice today, or for the next few days, then you are absolutely free to leave. It's perfectly okay to take time to yourself after an incident such as this happens. Because like I said, it was scary. Very, very scary. And it's okay for you to not want to be here right now."

Unsurprisingly, even after a few seconds, no one made a move to get up. Of course. Takeda should've known. This was the most stubborn group of kids to ever exist, especially when it came to one of their own. There was no way any of them were leaving.

"Kageyama would want us to stay and practice," Asahi spoke up quietly, his hands shaking slightly.

"Jeez!" Nishinoya nudged the older boy in the side with his elbow, "he's not dead! You don't have to be all morbid and stuff!"

"I- I'm not- you know what I mean!" Asahi squawked.

Laughing at the pairs' exchange, the heavy atmosphere in the room finally eased, and Takeda found himself smiling along with them. Slowly, each of them got to their feet, and readied themselves to begin practice. Before taking a seat at the side of the room, to allow Daichi to take charge just as he used to before Ukai arrived, Takeda noticed Yachi being helped off of the ground by Kiyoko.

It was likely Yachi wasn't taking all of this very well. In a way, she was rather similar to Hinata. No where near as confident as him, but she had the same incredibly emotional heart. He tried looked away as the blonde quickly wiped at her cheeks, erasing as much evidence of her tears as she could, before Kiyoko guided her over to the bench where he was currently placed.

"Sorry," Yachi apologised, her voice thick.

Takeda was quick to assure her, "you have nothing to apologise for."

Kiyoko sat on Yachi's other side, and the three remained in comfortable silence for a few moments, watching as the team played and interacted. It was clear that something wasn't quite right, as it was no where near as loud as it would usually be in the gym, the severe lack of Hinata and Kageyama's bickering becoming all too obvious. Nishinoya and Tanaka were trying to make up for the lack of sound, and surprisingly, Suga occasionally assisted too. There was still something missing, but it was okay. Kageyama would return eventually.

"How long will it be until Kageyama is able to play again?" Kiyoko broke the silence, though her gaze remained on the play, rather than turning to look at Takeda.

"The doctor said that it would be maybe two or three months. But if he wants to, he can still come to practice in a few weeks time. He just won't be able to participate."

"He's not going to be very happy about that at all," Yachi responded sadly.

"No, he isn't. But he's also not dumb enough to jeopardise his recovery," Kiyoko offered, "and besides, maybe this'll finally give him a chance to do something with his time that _isn't_ volleyball."

The blonde chuckled at that, a quiet, breathy sound. There was another beat of silence, before Yachi spoke again, "Sensei, do you know if Hinata is alright?"

Said boy was currently banned from practice also, as per the orders of Coach Ukai. However, that did not prevent him from attending the club anyway, content to watch his team play for the next few days. He was sat on the opposite side of the gym, his back resting against the wall, watching as the ball was tossed back on forth during receiving practice.

Takeda smiled, "he'll be okay. With time," he sighed, "all of you are still a little shaken up. But it'll pass. And Kageyama will get better and be back in here in no time."

The two girls nodded, turning back to watch the team.

\----------------------------------

He had to be overthinking this. He _had_ to be.

Of course, Ukai knew that Kageyama wouldn't exactly be over the moon to be living with his volleyball coach for an undetermined amount of time. But the scenarios that kept replaying in his head, each featuring varying degrees of arguing, didn't exactly instil him with hope.

Maybe the setter would be fine with it, and Ukai was worrying himself silly over nothing.

No. There's no chance that was the case.

In all honestly, the two of them barely knew each other. And he was about to go into his hospital room while he lay there, high off his ass on pain meds, and tell the poor kid that he was being forced out of his own home in order to live with Ukai and his mother, essentially two complete strangers, because he was no longer capable of looking after himself.

Kageyama, Mr 'I wish I could recieve, toss and spike, all by myself'.

The coach knew that Kageyama's home situation was not a normal one, nor was it a healthy one. But that didn't mean he would blindly agree to leave it. Even if it was only for a few months. That was his _home_ , after all.

There was no doubt that this was going to end badly. But what other choice did Ukai have? Let the kid suffer on his own? Not a chance.

Only ten minutes prior, he had excused himself from the hospital room to visit the restroom, that particular endeavour only taking up three minutes of the time he had been away.

The rest of the time he had spent devising what on earth he was going to say to the injured boy behind the door he was currently pacing in front of. Undoubtedly the ravenette was going to notice something was up. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, Ukai knew that, but wasn't stupid. He knew it didn't take ten minutes to take a piss. He almost hoped that Kageyama had fallen asleep in this short period of time. At least that would give him an extra while to think.

But alas as he finally re-entered the room, Kageyama was still sat up in his bed, eyes still very much open, darting over to face the doorway as Ukai returned.

"Hey, kid," the coach greeted, gently clicking the door closed behind him and making his way back over to the armchair at the boy's bedside.

"That took a while."

Ah. It seemed Kageyama was not in a small-talk kind of mood.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Took me a while to find the restrooms," Ukai lied, praying that the boy would let it go.

"You didn't have trouble this morning."

The worst part about it was that his statements weren't even malicious. Kageyama was genuinely just curious as to where the blonde had been all this time.

"There was a queue as well. This time, I mean," the coach mentally facepalmed, desperately hoping that Kageyama wouldn't see through his god-awful lying skills.

Thankfully, the injured setter did not prod any further, though he did give Ukai a confused look.

Ukai chuckled, glad to not have been caught out, "what, you miss me or somethin'?"

Over the past two days of Kageyama's stay at the hospital, Ukai learnt that he wasn't very good at picking up on sarcasm. Nor was he very good at understanding when people are joking or not, so it had been one of the topics of discussion the previous day. Ukai had graciously named the hour long period, 'Ukai's lesson on shits and giggles.' Kageyama chuckled softly, retorting that the name didn't make any sense whatsoever. "Well it got you to laugh, didn't it?" Was Ukai's response.

"You wish," the boy replied, smirking.

The coach chuckled, reaching out to gently ruffle Kageyama's hair. Unfortunately, the ravenette still lacked the strength to even raise his hand to swat Ukai's away, so he resigned to enduring his hair being mussed even more than it already was.

As Ukai removed his hand, Kageyama's gaze drifted over to the coach's face just in time to see his smile falter, and suddenly disappear.

"Listen, kid," the blonde began, inhaling deeply before continuing, "there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

Kageyama's heart monitor picked up slightly, almost unnoticeable, "is something wrong?"

"No, no kid. Nothing's wrong. It's just," he paused, trying to remember how he was supposed to word his next sentence, "you won't be able to look after yourself on your own when you're discharged. Someone's gonna have to look after you."

Kageyama stuttered, unsure of what to offer as a response.

Ukai cut him off, "Takeda and I talked for a little while, and we thought the best course of action would be for you to come live with me and my ma for a few months."

The raven haired boy looked positively stunned.

When Ukai sensed there was no response coming, he continued, "I know you'd probably rather not, but we've got no other option, I'm afraid.

"We've got a little guest bedroom in the house that you'll be sleeping in, and one of us is gonna have to stay in the house with you at all times, to make sure you're safe, and so that we can get you help fast, if anything happens."

He sighed, "I know you won't want to. But you need to be somewhere safe, where someone can take care of you. And me and my ma are happy provide that to you."

Ukai was expecting an explosive reaction. Anger or frustration. What he wasn't expecting to be met with when he scanned Kageyama's face, was happiness. Relief. His eyes were alight with joy, but even so, there was a dull hint of doubt there too, revealing itself in the way his eyebrows were furrowed slightly.

"Really?" He responds, disbelief audible in his suddenly very quiet tone.

"Of course, Kageyama," Ukai reassures, "you need someone to look after you, and there isn't anyone at your home to do that."

Ukai only realised his mistake when the relief in Kageyama's eyes was replaced with fear. Clearly the coach hadn't spent enough time thinking over his approach, because he had just somehow been stupid enough to fully reveal that he _knows_. He knows about Kageyama's home life.

Then again, he supposed this whole conversation was revealing enough to the fact that he knew. But he didn't have to outright spell it out for the poor kid. Now he more than likely just feels judged.

Ukai could practically see the questions swimming about in the boy's head. The turmoil in his eyes.

"Suga told me and Takeda, kid. About your home," Kageyama lifts his gaze to lock with the coach's, "about your family."

"I don't have a family," he answered immediately, before letting out a cold, joyless chuckle, "but I suppose that's the problem, isn't it."

"I'm sorry, kid."

"For what? It's not your fault that no one stays."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't make it fair on you."

"Yes it does."

Ukai is taken aback, "What?"

The boy shrugs as best he can with broken ribs, "I'm not exactly a good person, coach. It's not really surprising that no one sticks around for long."

Kageyama's expression held no cracks. There were no holes in the mask he wore all of a sudden. Ukai realised that Kageyama had fully convinced himself that every word he had just spoken was true. Somehow, although the boy's face was blank, Ukai could only see despair.

"Why do you think you're a bad person, kid?"

"I say bad things. I upset people," his answer almost seems rehearsed, as if he'd been over it time and time again in his head, "there's a reason why people call me the 'king of the court', coach."

Ukai reached over the railing of the bed, and took Kageyama's hand, not giving the boy a chance to question him before he responded, "kid, I promise you that is not true.

"I know for a fact that you are a good person. You know how?"  
Kageyama shook his head slowly.

"Because you're _trying_ to change. And you're not trying to change just for yourself, or because you know it'll help you win. You're trying to change because you _know_ that some of the things you said in the past made people sad, and you don't want to hurt

anyone else's feelings."

Ukai readied himself for the next part of his speech, hoping he wasn't overstepping any boundaries. At the same time, he couldn't find it in himself to care, because right now, Kageyama needed to hear this.

"The people at Kitigawa Daiichi were not good people. Yes, you said some things that were uncalled for, and mean. But that did not give them any right to ridicule you, and to abandon you. Especially in the way that they did, and at the time that they did."

For the second time that day, Kageyama had been stunned into silence.

"You were hurting, weren't you? That was the reason why you acted like you did."

The boy nodded, his bottom lip quivering slightly.

"You were grieving, Kageyama. And what's worse, is you were grieving alone," Ukai paused, rubbing his thumb gently over the back of the boy's hand, as a few droplets began to spill from his eyes.

"It was not fair on you, Kageyama. You hear me? It wasn't."

Kageyama nodded once more, finally giving up the fight against his tears. Ukai rose from his seat and gently, oh so gently leant over the bed, and wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulders, allowing him to press his head into the coach's shoulder, all while avoiding injuring him.

"You _are_ a good person, Tobio. Life has just decided to deal you a really shitty hand.

"But I promise you, you're not alone anymore, okay? You have the team, Hinata, Suga and Daichi. Takeda and me," he let his hand cradle the ravenette's head, "We're right here. And we're not going anywhere."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS THAT TOOK LONGER THAN INTENDED  
> yeah so this chapter accidently took two months to write lol. To be honest, I wrote the majority of this chapter over the past three days so.  
> But anyway! Chapter 4! I feel like the first section was a little bit anti-climactic, but I think it works anyway?? i hope it does???  
> It's likely that there will only be one more chapter of this, as I am not planning on writing Kageyama's full recovery, but there is also the small possibility of a sequel. I say small because i mean it though. Unless I get another sudden burst of inspiration like i have done over the past couple of days, said sequel will not be happening, or at least not for a while.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm very sorry that it took so long to get out!  
> Also, thank you all so much for the support and comments you've given me on this story! People are saying that they keep coming back to read it and i am legit sobbing about it still. Seriously, thank you all so much, it means the world to me.  
> That being said, please feel free to leave comments and reviews, they are a big part of the reason I have the motivation to keep writing this story!  
> Thank you so much for reading!


	5. Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ukai brings a surprise with him to practice.

"Hey! Guys! Come over here! I got a surprise for ya!"

Ukai's call echoed around the gym, making Hinata flinch at the unexpected sound. He turned to the doorway, to find Coach stood, now gesturing with his hands for the team to come.

"Coach, I thought you weren't supposed to be coming in today?" Daichi questioned. He seemed to be just as confused as Hinata, if his tone was any indication.

When Kageyama had been discharged, Ukai worked with Takeda and Daichi to create a weekly timetable of the days he would be coming in or not. It made choosing the type of training day by day easier, with the knowledge of whether or not they would have their coach guiding them. It had been about 3 weeks since it was implemented, and so far it was working a treat. However, on this particular afternoon session, Coach Ukai was not supposed to be attending. 

And yet here he was, grinning like a madman in the doorway of the gym, waving wildly for the team to gather around.

"I wasn't, but there's been a slight change in plans," Ukai replied, stepping out the door, "just wait here, I'll be right back."

And he was gone again.

The team looked to Takeda, "Sensei, did you have any idea about this?" Yamaguchi asked.

"I might've had a little bit of knowledge on it, yes," the teacher responded, sheepishly.

"So this is for a surprise?" Hinata inquired. He had to admit, he was incredibly confused at this point. Why would Ukai leave Kageyama at home on a day he was supposed to be there, just so that he could give the team a surprise?

Takeda nodded.

"What kinda surprise are we talkin' here, Sensei?" Noya eyed the man suspisiously.

"How about you guys stop asking questions and just wait and see."

Another few minutes passed, filled with idle conversation and speculation. The red head had thrown about a few ideas of what the surprise could be, Tanaka and Nishinoya quickly catching on and joining in. Much to their dismay however, Tsukkishima seemed to be rather enjoying making fun of every suggestion put forward.

Hinata was beginning to get bored of just standing there, listening to Tsukkishima's teasing when he could've been practicing.

The past three weeks had not been the easiest. Seeing Kageyama in such a state had taken quite the mental toll, to say the least.

Hinata went to visit Kageyama every day, hanging out in Ukai and his Mom's living room, (the house was nicer than Hinata expected it to be, though he supposed that was thanks to Mrs Ukai, not her son).

The first few days of visiting had been the hardest. Kageyama couldn't even really get out bed for the first week, and was mostly just in and out of sleep the whole time Hinata was there. It wasn't exactly fun seeing his friend in that condition.

In the most recent week though, Kageyama was starting to move around. Not a whole lot, but it was a significant improvement from where they had started.

Visiting was odd, to say the least. But it was made even more odd by the fact that they couldn't play volleyball.

Whenever they used to hang out outside of school hours, it would be for homework or to practice. Never just for the sake of seeing each other.

In a way, the two of them were seeing a completely new side to one another . They knew what they was like in classes, or during matches and practice. But what they were like when they weren't working or playing was completely new territory for them both.

Hinata already knew he liked Kageyama as a person. Well, it took him a while to get past the stage of blind hatred at first, but they had both moved on from that now.

Now, the red head was pleased to say that they were very good friends. _Best_ friends, even.

Of course, there were things that he still wasn't so fond of about the setter, but that was neither here nor there.

And yet, over the past few weeks, it was as if Hinata was getting to know a completely different Kageyama.

He was calmer when Hinata went to visit him. Quiet and gentle with everything he did. Almost timid. Whether that was because he was being mindful of his injury or not, the red head didn't know. But Ukai _had_ said to him that the ravenette was still having to take high doses of pain meds, enough to dull the pain, but not quite enough to make him loopy. So perhaps this was just how Kageyama was.

Hinata might even call the way he behaved _endearing_.

The only times he had ever called Hinata a dumbass, was when it was said in a soft, and oh so fond tone of voice.

The taller boy had fallen asleep on the sofa more than once in the past three weeks, each time practically using Hinata as a pillow.

When he had to ask for Hinata to get him things, a drink, or a cushion, he wasn't rude or confrontational with it. It was just a quiet, "Could you get me a glass of water, please?"

Hinata was happy to comply.

There were times in which he became frustrated at his lack of mobility, and of course Hinata would be sympathetic. He couldn't even begin to imagine how it felt, being someone usually so active, when in the blink of an eye that ability is taken away from you, and you have to build from the ground up again.

Not to mention how he had to get help doing basically _anything_.

For the first week he adamantly refused to change his clothes or shower, because someone would have to help him do it. He was well aware of how bad not staying clean could be for his health, especially in his current condition, not to mention the fact that he was beginning to smell rather unpleasant too. Despite this, and Ukai and Hinata's best efforts to convince him, it didn't deter Kageyama. He was determined to keep his pride.

In all honesty, Hinata couldn't blame him. He doubted he would be any different in the same situation.

Eventually, Mrs Ukai had had enough, and went to go talk to him. The red head wasn't sure how, but she just about convinced the setter to at least give it a try, perhaps with _her_ help rather than Coach's, or Hinata's. It appeared Kageyama had gained a lot of trust in this woman in the span of only a week or so, (Hinata had to admit that it was impressive. Especially considering this was the big, scary, loner _Kageyama_ they were talking about). With the promise that she would look away when he told her to, he eventually cleaned and changed.

And that was what marked the start of him attempting to move around the house.

Hinata had found, however, that just before he was forced to ask for assistance, Kageyama would do something that the red head had never imagined he'd see.

Kageyama would _pout_.

And _good lord_ it was the most adorable thing Hinata had ever seen.

Never in his life had the spiker imagined he'd be calling Kageyama _adorable_ of all things.

Scary? Yes.

Angry? Of course.

Loud? Without a doubt.

But timid, gentle and _adorable_? Not a chance.

And yet, everyday it seemed these were the words he was most drawn to when describing the taller boy.

Kageyama was allowing himself to be vulnerable with Hinata, and over the past few weeks, the red head found himself realizing that maybe he didn't see the setter as just a friend. At least not anymore.

He was pretty sure that he started falling for the ravenette not long after they started getting along in the first place. He ignored it, for the most part. Because at first it was just a silly little crush.

But then it didn't go away. And it became harder and harder to ignore when every time he saw Kageyama a smile forced its way onto his face and his heart started beating a mile a minute.

He didn't even understand _why_ he liked him at first.

He supposed to begin with that it was just a material thing, because even Hinata had to admit, Kageyama was very good looking. At least when he wasn't scowling. And maybe it was appearance based at the start, but then they both started spending more time together, when studying and training, and Hinata's little crush shifted and grew into something much larger.

He started to see glimpses of what he was seeing now, care and caution, a hint of gentleness here and there. But even then, the spiker continued to push it down, not wanting to accidentally ruin the friendship that they had.

Then the collision happened.

And Hinata thought that it was over. That Kageyama would hate him, and would never want to talk to him ever again. Luckily, he was wrong.

And now, the red head was seeing a side of Kageyama that he doubted many had seen before, if any. And alas, his feelings towards him were shifting and growing once more. At this point, Hinata might even call it love.

He hoped Kageyama felt the same way. He had been opening up a lot recently, telling Hinata about things to do with his family, or what used to be his family, as well as his encounters with various people at Kitigawa Daiichi. When Kageyama stopped telling him about what happened though, and starting telling him about his how the events effected him, Hinata grew concerned.

Fear and anger.

Loneliness.

Despair.

The spiker struggled to hold his tears back while Kageyama talked.

Afterwards, he encouraged the setter to talk to Ukai, and the coach ended up suggesting the possibility of going to see a therapist. Kageyama agreed, saying it might be a good idea for once he was healed, and able to leave the house.

If Kageyama trusted him enough to be there during those conversations, then maybe, just maybe he felt the same way.

After Kageyama started living with Ukai, the questions from the rest of the team started barrelling in. The setter gave Ukai, Hinata, Suga and Takeda a list of things they were allowed to say. It identified a line between what information the team were, and were not allowed to know.

Most of the responses Hinata was allowed to give were essentially, "Kageyama has no family living with him to look after him, so Ukai offered to take him in." And if someone tried crossing the line, Hinata would explain that that was all he could tell them. But it after the first few times, people stopped pressing, respecting Kageyama's privacy.

Occasionally, other members of the team would join Hinata in visiting the setter. On Friday evenings, the whole team would accompany him, as they would usually be visiting the Sakinoshita shop anyway.

Seeing their injured setter was an added bonus.

On the first Friday, Kageyama missed them, as he was sleeping at the time. However, seeing how disappointed he was after the finding out he'd missed his chance to see everyone, Ukai made sure to wake him on time the next week, and the week after that. The ravenette was taken aback by how excited the team was to see him. He'd never had people actively _want_ him around before.

Hinata enjoyed watching him get all flustered.

Kageyama seemed happier recently. Which was surprising considering the injuries he was currently recovering from.

Even so, he seemed to be smiling more often, and those smiles would usually reach his eyes too. Perhaps it was because he was no longer living alone. He was no longer _lonely_.

There was always someone in the house with him, and for the first time in so long there was noise in the house being made by someone other than him. It wasn't just silence.

From Ukai's singing while he cooked, to the sound of footsteps against the floor, or the quiet hum of voices on the TV.

Kageyama heard all of it, and he revelled in it.

Each little creak of a floorboard, or clang of pots and pans, was a sign that he wasn't alone anymore. And he had told Hinata all of this, with the most content and yet delighted face the red head had ever seen on him. It left a buzzing feeling of _joy_ in Hinata's heart, as well as the fluttering feeling of butterflies in his stomach. The good kind of butterflies.

In that moment, he felt the conscious urge to kiss the setter, right there and then. He resisted it, of course. But that was when Hinata truly realised that he was in love with Kageyama.

Shouyo Hinata was deeply, madly in love with Tobio Kageyama.

"Okay!" Ukai's reappeared, silencing the various conversations as his head popped around the side of the doorframe, "you all ready?"

The answer was no, because Ukai had given them no explanation whatsoever besides the fact that it was a surprise. In all honestly, Hinata was starting to get a little annoyed. They had been stood waiting for five minutes now, for this thing that Ukai was apparently incredibly excited to show them. This thing that was taking them away from practice.

This 'surprise' had better be worth it.

Before any of them could respond, however, Ukai had leant back again, hooking his arm around something. He took a step to the side, allowing the surprise to come into view.

Hinata gasped, audibly gasped.

A chorus of "Kageyama?!" rang out while Ukai helped said boy up the step at the door and into the gym.

"Hey, guys," the ravenette spoke, raising his arm to wave.

The team was completely dumbstruck. They were told not to expect Kageyama back for at least another couple of weeks!

Daichi was the first to regain his composure, "you- what- what are you doing here? I thought you weren't-"

"He's not gonna be practicing, if that's what you're thinking," Ukai interrupted, "that's still not gonna be happening for a couple months."

"I'm just bored of being cooped up," the setter continued, "so I thought it might be nice to come and visit?"

The last part of his sentence was toned as if it were a question, as if he were looking for approval to his decision, "I didn't expect Coach to make a big deal out of it though."

"What was I supposed to do? Just drag you in here with no warning at all?"

"To be fair, coach, you didn't technically give us that much warning anyways," Suga responded, smiling.

Tsukkishima smirked, "unless you count a 'surprise' as a warning."

"Either way," Daichi spoke, turning to the ravenette, "It's really good to see you up on your feet, Kageyama."

The boy nodded, "Thanks. It feels good."

Ukai began to unhook his arm from behind Kageyama, making eye contact with him as if to ask 'is this okay?' The setter nodded, preparing himself to stand on his own.

"Why don't we get you sat down on a bench, huh?"

Hinata immediately stepped forward, a silent offer to guide the boy over to the bench a few metres away. Kageyama smiled upon noticing him. Hinata's felt his heart flutter.

With both hands now free, Coach clapped, "Alright! Change of plans! We're gonna do a practice match!"

The team gaped. Surprisingly, so did Takeda. Hinata assumed this was a part of the conversation they definitely _hadn't_ discussed.

"Coach, do you- er," Takeda began, "do you really think that's such a good idea?"

The was a slight warning in his tone, but either Ukai didn't notice it, or ignored it.

"Yep! You guys haven't had a practice match in three weeks. I will not have my team slacking!"

Hinata stood to Kageyama's side, placing his arm around his waist as the taller boy rested his own across the red head's shoulders. They began to make stumble their way over to the bench slowly, Hinata glancing up at Kageyama's face every so often.

Ukai continued to talk behind them, giving a quick speech before setting up teams of five.

"We already talked about it, if that's what you're thinking," the setter broke the silence, making Hinata jump.

"Huh?" He asked, confused.

"Ukai and I already talked about there being a practice match. I'm fine with it," Kageyama looked sheepish, "you kept looking up at me, so I thought..." his voice trailed off as they reached the bench.

Hinata's eyes widened. Crap.

The red head didn't even realise he'd been doing that. Maybe it was his subconscious telling him he needed to keep making sure Kageyama was okay? He had no idea.

He just really hoped he wasn't blushing. That would be quite the travesty. Although, speaking of blushing, the spiker was sure he saw a slight dusting of red across Kageyama's cheeks.

Yeah, Hinata was definitely blushing now.

The red head adjusted his position, assisting the ravenette in sitting down as carefully as possible, before placing himself beside him.

"Are _you_ worried about it?" Kageyama questioned.

Hinata pondered. _Was_ he worried about it? "I don't know," was what he settled upon as his answer.

"It's okay if you are. I think that's probably normal."

The red head hummed.

They fell into a comfortable silence, watching as the team set up the net. This was one of the things Hinata had grown to appreciate about his relationship with Kageyama. They were both comfortable enough around each other that no silence between words was awkward, or out of place. They didn't need to talk to appreciate the other being there, sometimes.

"Hinata."

The spiker jumped for the second time that day, physically jolting where he sat. Kiyoko and Yachi were stood to his side, the taller girl having been the one to address him.

"We needed equal teams, so Coach decided that you should be the one to sit out," Kiyoko continued.

Wait, what?

Hinata still wasn't sure if he was worried or not, but he had already figured the only way he would find out would be to actually get on the court. But now he wouldn't even be able to do _that_.

Yachi smiled at him apologetically as she turned away, Kiyoko having already left to go and stand back by the score board.

Well, he wasn't going to be put down like this without a fight.

He was about to get up to go and fight his case to Coach, when Kageyama spoke again, "I guess that means you can stay here with me, then."

And just like that, Hinata's urge to play had entirely dissipated.

When Hinata looked up at Kageyama, he found the boy already gazing at him, the faintest of smiles on his face.

"Yeah," he smiled, "yeah, I guess it does."

Kageyama turned away again, to look back at the court. What kept Hinata staring at him was the sudden troubled look in his eyes.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked gently.

The ravenette sighed, "It's nothing."

Hinata frowned, "Kageyama, if it's bothering you, then it's not nothing."

"It's just-" he hesitated, as if struggling to find the right words, "do you- do you still blame yourself?"

It caught Hinata off guard. It was a question that seemed to come out of nowhere.

He chuckled nervously, "where did that come from?"

"Do you?"

Hinata swallowed. Oh. Kageyama was being serious.

He considered his answer for a moment, knowing that the ravenette was not going to like the truth, but seeing there was no point in lying anyway.

He sighed, "Yeah, a little."

It was Kageyama's turn to frown, "you shouldn't."

He hummed.

"Hinata."

"I know."

"So why do you still insist doing it anyway?"

"Because it was my fault."

"It wasn't."

"I was the one that collided with you. That makes it my fault."

"It was an accident."

"Just 'cause it was an accident, it doesn't mean it wasn't my fault."

Hinata refused to make eye contact, but Kageyama continued to gaze at him.

"What I don't understand is how _you_ don't blame me."

Kageyama was becoming irritated, "because it wasn't your fault."

"It _was_ my fault. I don't get how you're not seeing that," Hinata hissed.

"And _I_ don't get how you don't see that it was an _accident_."

"It being an accident doesn't mean I didn't hurt you!"

"But you didn't _mean_ to hurt me, did you?"

Hinata looked appauled, "What? Of course not!"

"Then I don't see the point in being mad at you!"

Hinata's eyes widened as he realized he didn't have a response for that.

He saw out of the corner of his eye a few of the team staring, clearly alerted by the pairs heightened volume. The spiker was _sure_ that they hadn't been that loud. And for once, the red head had been louder than Kageyama. Though, he wasn't sure if he should be proud at that, considering the fact that the ravenette was currently hurt. Yet another thing for him to be angry at himself about.

Still, he knew that Kageyama had a point. He wasn't exactly _happy_ about it, but he knew that the setter was a least a little bit right.

He waved at the few who were staring, assuring them that everything was okay, and that they were just having a slight disagreement. He hoped they believed him.

As it turned out, according to their team mates, they could tell based on the pairs tones of voice when their arguments were serious or not. Hinata himself couldn't really see a difference. It was all just shouting to him.

When he was certain all eyes had been averted, he brought his attention back to the conversation at hand.

He sighed, "I'm sorry for yelling."

He didn't look at the ravenette as he spoke, but he heard as he exhaled a shaky breath, "I'm sorry too."

Now that was a first. Clearly the past few weeks really _had_ changed Kageyama, if he was apologising that easily.

"But that doesn't mean I'm apologising for what I said," the setter continued.

Hinata remained silent, sensing that there was more to be said.

"I know that if I was in your position, I would probably be feeling the same way. But, if you were in _my_ position, would you be blaming _me_? For hurting you?"

The red head took a deep breath, "no. No, I guess not."

"Then there's no need to blame yourself."

The spiker hung his head, chuckling, "since when did you start being all profound and stuff?"

Kageyama lips upturned, "I wouldn't call it profound. I'd just call it knocking some sense into that thick head of yours."

Hinata huffed, mocking offence, "well _that's_ certainly not very profound."

Kageyama chuckled at that, lifting his arm to shove Hinata's face backwards, seemingly forgetting his injury.

He let out a quiet cry of pain as he brought his arm back into himself, clutching at his side while he leant forward. Hinata quickly recovered from the shove to his face, moving to be at Kageyama's side in an instant.

"Crap," the ravenette hissed through his teeth.

"Are you alright? Do you need me to get Ukai? Do you need-"

"It's fine, Hinata. This just happens when I move too fast, or too suddenly," the wave of pain seemed to be passing now, as some of the tightly wound tenseness in Kageyama's shoulders lessened, "it happened a couple times while you were at Ukai's with me, remember?"

Ah, yes. Hinata recalled the incidents all too clearly. When it first happened, Kageyama had outright screamed, summoning Ukai from the shop floor to find out what on earth was happening (and whether or not Kageyama was dying).

Ukai had called a doctor immediately, panicking in a way akin to a terrified parent. Hinata had to admit, he wasn't much better off himself. Kageyama seemed to be in less pain than he was when he was first injured, because he was still lucid, but that didn't make the situation any less worrying.

The doctor arrived, and told them that for an injury like Kageyama's, if he moved the wrong way, or moved too quickly and jostled the injury, it could cause pain in varying levels of intensity.

The causation was the setter stumbling slightly as he exited the bathroom, bumping into the doorframe, causing his arm to press against the injury.

That incident had only been about a week and a half ago, so whether Kageyama had already healed some more, or the jostling wasn't quite as bad this time, Hinata wasn't sure.

"Yeah. Yeah I remember," Hinata exhaled shakily, "still though, do you need anything?"

"Just-" he paused, "just stay. That's all I need."

It wasn't the answer that Hinata was expecting, but after he got over the initial shock (and joy) of hearing it, he was happy to comply.

As long as Kageyama wanted him by his side, then he wasn't going to go anywhere.

"I'm here."

(my art)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FINAL CHAPTER WHOOP WHOOP  
> Holy crap that was a journey! This is the first fanfic I have ever completely finished, and I have gotta say, I'm actually pretty proud of myself.  
> Thank you all so much for reading this fic, and for all of your lovely comments along the way! This story was actually really fun to write, and a part of that enjoyment came from me looking forward to reading all of your comments once each chapter was finished! So again, thank you!  
> I really hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it. I will say, I do have a lot of ideas for potential sequels set in this AU, but, like I said in the last chapter, there is a chance that none of these will be happening, so I don't want to get your hopes up. I've just started doing my A-Levels in school, so my free time is becoming rather few and far between.  
> But anyway! Like I said, thank you all so much for reading this story, and for all of your kudos, bookmarks and comments, they really mean the world to me.  
> Until next time, guys!


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